None For All
by ProfressorSeuss
Summary: A.U. Villain/Evil Deku. All it took was one bad day for Midoriya to spiral out of control. Upon reaching his lowest point, looked down upon, beaten, battered and abused by a society that treats Quirkless people as second-class citizens, Izuku decides to rid the world of Quirks so that everything can go back to how it used to be before heroes and villains ever existed. M for Mature
1. Chapter 1: Origin

**A.U. Villian Deku. He will be based off of a combination of The Riddler, The Joker, Two-Face, and Penguin. He will remain Quirkless throughout the story and will operate more or less as a mastermind who pulls the strings. Don't worry, this story will be a slow burn but it will be well worth the payoff with twists and turns along the way. I hope you all enjoy it.**

Origin

Society had changed rapidly ever since a baby in China was born with "special gifts." These "special gifts", or, "Quirks" became more and more widespread throughout the globe. It is said that approximately 80% of the population possess some kind of quirk.

Some people would inevitably use their gifts for their own personal gain. They were labeled as criminals, or villains. However, there were brave men and women with quirks who began to put their lives on the line to combat them and defend the innocent. These courageous men and women were called "heroes."

Ever since Midoriya could remember, he wanted to be a hero. As a kid, his dream was to attend U.A., the number one hero course. However, he had just one small problem…..

"If you keep picking on people, then I'll never forgive you!" A four year old Midoriya declared to the resident class bullies before him.

"Even though you're quirkless," The ringleader of the bullies began to say. When he pounded his fist against his hand, embers burst forth from his knuckle. "You're pretending to be a hero, Deku?!"

That's right. He was quirkless.

There was, statistically speaking, about a 20% chance that he would be so.

And he drew the short end of the stick.

As he laid on the ground badly beaten. His eyelids half open, teetering on the edge of consciousness, one fact reverberated in his mind.

All men are not created equal.

Despite what his doubters and detractors said to him, Midoriya persevered. Why? Well, that was simple.

You never know unless you try, right?

It was one thing if he tried and failed. He could live with that. But quitting on his dream without even trying was unforgivable. In fact, he refused to even entertain the notion.

Despite his classmates laughing at him for dreaming to join U.A., and despite Bakugou declaring that he would undoubtedly make it into U.A. and talking down to not only Midoriya but the rest of the class, insinuating that Midoriya's presence would only make a mockery out of U.A., he strove toward his dream day after day.

However, after class during one particular day, things changed. All because of one incident.

Because of one moment.

Class had just ended, and Midoriya was excited as ever to write in his "Hero Analysis" notebook. Earlier that day, he witnessed Kamui Woods in action, as well as a new and, _ahem, "_ass-tacular" hero known as Mt. Lady. Her special attack, "Canyon Cannon," appeared to have been particularly deadly.

"I can't wait to write about what I saw!" Midoriya exclaimed to himself.

Before he could place his notebook back into his backpack however, a hand reached out to grab it from in front of him.

When Midoriya looked up, he saw that it was none other than Bakugou himself.

"I wasn't done talking to you, Deku," Bakugou said. He waved around Midoriya's book nonchalantly.

Two of Bakugou's friends, or "lackeys" as Midoriya preferred to refer to them as, approached him.

"Eh? What's that notebook?" One of them asked.

Bakugou handed it to him.

"Huh? 'Hero Analysis For The Future?!' Pfft-" The lackey couldn't contain himself any longer. He began to laugh uncontrollably.

Midoriya clenched his fist. He was beginning to become angry, but he held it at bay. If he tried to fight them now, he could seriously die.

"J-J-Just give it back!" He demanded with a shaky voice.

In response, Bakugou slammed his fist against the notebook. Although he had the ability to burn it to cinders, he instead chose to singe it. Midoriya gasped with shock as his lifelong bully then tossed his precious notebook out of the window haphazardly.

"Do me a favor, Deku," Bakugou gave him a "light"-hearted smile. He placed his hand on Midoriya's shoulder. "Stay away from U.A., nerd."

As the trio of bullies began to walk away, Midoriya continued to stand dejected. Now, both of his fists were clenched. He felt a fire within his belly, a furnace of anger that burnt white hot. Normally he would look at a situation as objectively as possibly, weigh out the pros and cons, and then act. But he began to think about how wonderful it would feel to punch Bakugou as hard as he could. Just one punch. That's all he needed. Then he could die happy.

"Hey, you could at least say _something," _One of the lackeys cackled.

"Deku, if you wish to have a quirk, there is one thing that you could do," Bakugou stopped to say. "You could go to the highest roof and jump off of it. As you fall, wish with all of your might that you will be reborn with a Quirk in the next life!"

Midoriya turned to face Bakugou. His anger had reached a boiling point. The furnace within was akin to a supernova, and his visage was twisted with rage.

Bakugou simply smirked at him. Now _that _was an expression that he had never seen before. It was interesting.

"Oh? I like that look that on your you what Deku," Bakugou placed his arms behind his back. "I'll give you the first punch."

"Grrrrrrr!"

That's it.

He had found his chance.

Midoriya rushed Bakugou. He nearly tripped over his own feet as he did so, yet he managed to remain upright. He clenched his right fist and reared it back. He imagined what his favorite hero, All Might, would do, and mimicked him.

"Detroit! Smash!" Midoriya roared as his knuckle collided against Bakugou's cheek.

He heard Bakugou grunt from the impact, but he remained completely still. From his vantage point, Midoriya could not read his expression, but he saw the look on the face of his lackeys, and they shocked to silence.

"Detroit? Smash?" Bakugou muttered. His voice was low, almost inaudible.

Once the euphoria of what Midoriya had done washed away, it was instead replaced with an overwhelming amount of regret.

He was done for.

Bakugou wiped his mouth and looked at Deku with eyes that were devoid of any discernible emotion.

"Don't make me laugh, Deku!"

Midoriya didn't see it coming. A heavy right handed strike landed square on his jaw. The impact along with the burst of explosion aided from his quirk sent Midoriya flying against the wall of the classroom. He almost blacked out from the impact, yet he managed to remain conscious.

"Guard the door," Bakugou ordered his lackeys. "Make sure no one wanders in here. I will be out in a second."

The duo did as they were told. They stepped out of the classroom and shut the door behind them and remained in front of it conversing as to not draw suspicion.

Inside, Midoriya laid against the wall, his lower lip bleeding and busted and his cheek covered in blisters due to Bakugou's quirk. What's worse is that he knew that Bakugou was holding back. If he hadn't, then he would have literally killed his quirkless classmate.

"I'm proud of you, Deku, for finally having the balls to stand up for yourself. I really am," Bakugou slammed his fist against his hand, much like he did all those years ago.

"But you chose the wrong one to stand up to."

Normally, Midoriya would plead. He would beg for forgiveness, and beg for his life. But he didn't have the strength to anymore. If he was going to die anyways, then why not say how he really felt.

"You know what," Midoriya began to slowly stand to his feet using the wall that he laid against for support as he did so. "The funny thing is, if I were in your position, I wouldn't pick on anyone. However, instead, I was born without a quirk, which is something that you feel the need to remind me as much as you can. But….."

Midoriya looked Bakugou in the eyes and roared with all of his might, "But I bet without your quirk, you would be nothing!"

…..

Silence.

Bakugou's visage was a twisted blend of amazement and astonishment. That's two times that Deku had stood up to him. What in the world had gotten into him? Furthermore, he asserted that he, Katsuki Bakugou, would be _nothing_ without his quirk? Had he lost his mind?

"Do you think that I wouldn't be able to kick your ass without my Quirk, Deku?"

Midoriya neither shook nor nodded his head.

"Well!?" Bakugou pressed.

Midoriya swallowed hard and then nodded his head.

Bakugou did not say another word. He simply charged at Midoriya who did not expect it. He began to punch Midoriya relentlessly. From his face, to his chest, and to his stomach. One body blow in particular caused the quirkless boy to double over in pain. He fell to his knees in agony and puked his lunch out onto the ground. Bakugou then reared his leg back and kicked Midoriya in the head.

That blow was hard enough to cause him to black out.

Midoriya awoke hours later in a daze. At first he did not know where he was. But then he remembered that he had just gotten his ass kicked by Bakugou and that he was still at the school. He had never been knocked unconscious before, was it normal for people to be out it for several hours?

And why did no one notice that he hadn't gone home yet? Where were the teachers? The principle? The faculty and staff?

Wait, speaking of home….

_My mom's going to kill me! _

She was probably worried sick! Alarmed by this realization, Midoriya shakily arose to his feet. His body was sore, and his ribs in particular hurt unlike anything that he had ever felt before. He walked towards his bookbag and almost slipped on something wet. He looked down to see that it was his own vomit and held in the urge to do so again. He can't believe how badly that he was beaten. Was Bakugou trying to kill him?

As he looked through his backpack to make sure that he had all of his belongings, he realized that he was still missing his prized "Hero Analysis" notebook.

Even though he wanted to stick around to look for it, it was already evening time and the sun was down. Hopefully his notebook would turn up in the lost and found tomorrow.

He began to walk home his normal way but was cut off by a barricade of police officers. Apparently an incident had occurred where a slime villain took a student hostage and All Might managed to save him. Further details weren't given to him, but Midoriya was still somewhat upset that he was unconscious for the whole ordeal.

What's worse was that he had to take an alternate route back home, and it was through a part of town that was shady at best. Still, due to the recent slime villain attack, there was an increase in not only police presence, but heroes on patrol as well. Running into trouble should be unlikely.

Finally, in what seemed like forever, Midoriya was merely a block away from home. Always cautious, he made sure to glance behind himself every so often and thankfully he wasn't being followed by anyone.

_Home sweet home!_ He exclaimed inwardly as he continued his trek uninterrupted-

"Hey, kid, what's in the backpack?"

Midoriya froze.

_No way!_

He turned to see a man wearing all black and with a ski mask covering his visage standing menacingly.

_No way! _

He checked everywhere! Constantly! He didn't see anyone! It didn't make _any_ sense!

_No way!_

"H-H-How?!"

The man's body disappeared suddenly before he then reappeared back into the quirkless boy's view.

"Does that answer your question, kid?"

Midoriya dropped his backpack.

_Of course…._

Another person with a Quirk taking advantage of someone else without one. When would it end?!

Wait, that's it! So what if he doesn't have a Quirk! All he has to do is yell for help, and a hero with a Quirk will show up to rescue him!

When the masked criminal reached for the backpack, Midoriya reached for it as well and screamed at the top of his lungs, "Help! Somebody help me please! I'm being robbed!"

"Shut up kid!" The criminal roared as he reached back to brandish a handgun and then pointed it at the Quirkless student.

Midoriya was stunned for a moment, but he figured that _someone _would come for him. He was assured that there would be more cops and heroes on patrol in the area. He was about a dozen blocks away from the incident with the slime villain, so he was still within range of the patrol. So sooner or later, he _should _be rescued.

"Help! Someone! Anyone! Please! Hel-"

_Bang! _

The ear splitting sound of a gun being fired went off in the vicinity. The criminal cursed beneath his breath and took off as fast as he could. His body disappeared due to what Midoriya assumed was an invisibility or camouflage Quirk.

But as for him?

Well….

_No way…._

He fell onto his knees due to the mind numbing pain that he felt in his gut. So far he was in shock, thus, he could not register what had happened to him. However, once he saw the blood ooze from his wound, realization washed over him.

He had been shot.

_No way…._

Midoriya let out a blood curdling cry. The pain that he felt was beyond imagination. It made what Bakugou did to him earlier in the day feel like nothing more than a pinch.

While he teetered on the edge of consciousness, all he could think about was….

_Where are all of the heroes? _

_Why is no one here? _

* * *

"Boss, I found something," A boy that sounded to be around Midoriya's age said. In his hand was a notebook that he had happened to have picked up.

"What is it?" The mysterious man in question asked.

"It's a notebook that has all of the information that you could ever want about almost every hero imaginable! Lucky!" The boy exclaimed with a menacing smile.

"Oh? Does the notebook say who the owner of it is?" The man asked.

The boy scratched his head feverishly and flipped through the pages. He didn't see a name on the cover, but he did manage to find one on the very last page.

"It is owned by some kid named Midoriya Izuku."

"Interesting," The man said. "Most interesting."

"Why does it matter who made it?" The boy asked.

"Because whoever this Midoriya is, he could prove to be quite useful to us."


	2. Chapter 2: One For All & All For One

_A world without Quirks. _

_It was pleasant. _

_It was decent. _

_It was normal. _

_It was extraordinarily ordinary. _

_Life was mundane and rote, yet exciting and new all the same. _

_Midoriya didn't have to concern himself with trying to blend into a society that looked down on him. In his school there were no bullies with Quirks stroking their egos by picking on the defenseless and the quirkless. _

_In this world, even the bullies were normal. Which meant that they could be dealt with through normal means. _

_There were no "heroes". Just police officers and law enforcement. _

_There were no "villains." Just your regular run of the mill criminals. _

_And in this world, Midoriya saw himself dream of enrolling within the police academy so that he could become a detective and learn to solve crimes and help people. The courageous men and women who put their lives on the line day in and day out were respected within their community. _

_They wouldn't be laughed at for having no Quirks, thus being regulated to be fodder for villains. _

_Their sacrifices would actually mean something. _

_Everyone would be someone. _

_That is the world that Midoriya dreamt of. _

* * *

Midoriya awoke with a start. He stared at an unfamiliar ceiling and attempted to sit up but a sharp pain in his gut prevented him from doing so. When he looked to the side he saw his mother sleeping on part of the bed he was in beside him, and that was when it dawned on him that he was, in fact, in a hospital.

That's right.

He had been shot.

His restless movements awoke his mother, who was startled at first to see her baby boy awake.

However, sure enough her eyes began to water and tears down her cheeks.

"I-Izuku!" She wanted to hug him. To hold him and caress him and take all of his pain away, but unfortunately she couldn't. She feared that if she hugged him then that she would hurt him, so instead she leaned in and began to peck his cheek over and over again.

"Izuku! I'm so happy that you're awake! Oh baby, I'm so happy! I'm so happy!" She said between kisses.

Midoriya couldn't help but smile.

"Is there anything you that you need from me? Do you want me to fetch the nurse to give you something to eat? Do you want me to fluff your pillow? How about I sit your bed up a little bit?"

"Uhm, I would like to sit up a little…" Midoriya requested.

"Yes! Of course!" His mom pressed a button on the side of the hospital bed. The head of the bed began to raise until it stopped at an approximate thirty-degree angle.

"This is fine, thank you," Midoriya said. He truthfully wanted to be raised just a touch more, but he feared that he would aggravate his wound if he did so. For now he wasn't in any pain, but that was perhaps due to the fact that he was given a fresh dose of pain killers throughout his assumed surgery. He wasn't hooked up to any I.V.'s, which meant that the bullet must have been successfully removed without any complications.

At least, that's what he had hoped.

There was a brief moment of silence between the two before his mom spoke again.

"Oh! I almost forgot!" His mom reached into her purse and pulled out her cell phone, to which Midoriya perked a brow at.

"Your father called to check up on you throughout the night. You were in surgery for over sixteen hours and he took off of work to stay on the phone with me throughout the whole ordeal. He had to go back to work but he left you a message. Here, read it," His mom handed her phone over to her son, who took it and began to read the message left behind by his father.

_Son, words cannot express how strong you are. I know that you will pull through, and after you do, I know that you will be stronger for it. _

_When I first held you in my arms I looked down at you and thought to myself, "Gosh, my son will be the toughest person there is." _

_Quirk or not, I know that you will achieve whatever it is that you set your mind to. You are extremely intelligent and bright. _

_I remember when you took your first steps. You fell down over and over and over again, but you always got right back up. _

_And sure enough, first time you took a few steps you moved so quick, you didn't just walk, you started to run. _

_You are fearless and capable of anything that you put your mind to. I know that you will get into U.A. and become a fine hero! I should be back home next summer, so please do your best until then._

_Who knows, maybe we could go on patrol together. _

_And remember, you will always be my hero. _

_Love, Dad_

Midoriya wiped the tears from his eyes as he handed the phone back to his mom. He was happy that his dad left such an encouraging message, but he had to face the facts. If a thug with a camouflage Quirk and a gun could almost kill him, then imagine what a villain would do? He would be annihilated. Being a hero just wasn't a realistic dream.

"Mom…" Midoriya began to say as he wiped the last the tear residue from his eyes.

"Yes honey?" His mom asked, her face attentive.

"I don't want to go to U.A. anymore."

His mother gasped in shock.

"But honey-"

"I don't want to be a hero anymore."

"But what about your drea-"

"Mom look at me!" Midoriya snapped. He had never, once in his entire life, raised his voice at his mother before. His mom tried to chalk it up to the trauma and the stress of her son's ordeal, but she could not shake the feeling that this would be the start of something.

"Don't you see mom?! I can't do it! It's not possible! I don't have a Quirk to defend myself! All I'll be doing is going out on patrol every day to die!" He pulled up his hospital gown to reveal the scars left behind from the bullet he took to his gut.

Tears continued to flood his eyes as he finally said aloud what the entire world wanted to tell him from the very beginning.

"I am nothing without a Quirk."

Devastated to hear her son speak in such a way, Midoriya's mom rushed out of the room with her face in her hands sobbing uncontrollably. Regret stabbed his chest like a knife, and he buried his face into his hands as well.

"What's wrong with me?" He asked himself aloud.

A brief moment passed and a nurse stepped into the room and closed the door behind herself. She appeared to have been rather young looking, almost unbelievably so. She had a warm smile that could brighten up a mining tunnel.

"Is everything alright mister Midoriya?" She asked him.

Midoriya sighed. The nurse must have saw his mother rush out of the clinic frantically. He felt awful for what he said, but he could not take it back.

"Y-Yea, please don't worry yourself about it," He said to the nurse, which in turn caused her to chuckle.

"I should be the one worrying about you, you know," She corrected him with a smile. This caused the quirkless boy to smile at her sheepishly. Even now all he could think about was how he could not be a burden to others. In spite of his situation, he did not let it make him bitter.

The nurse approached Midoriya and leaned in towards him. He did not know what her intent was, but all he could do was shut his eyes as hard as possible as to not peek at her bosom. He heard her giggle when he did so, and she fluffed out his pillow for him and straightened up his bed sheet.

"I just wanted to fluff your pillow silly," She said. "Unless you wanted me to do something else?" She pushed her blonde bangs to side as she said this. Her voice carried with it a seductive and sultry tone. Her supple lips puckered out and Midoriya's cheeks flared red.

"N-N-No, I'm fine, really, thank you," He sputtered out.

_She's so close! _

He could practically feel her breath tickle his neck.

"Well in that case, I have a question for you," She began to say as she leaned in even closer. Midoriya felt her hand snake up his leg and upward toward his abdomen. She circled her finger around his wound which had been sealed with staples. Despite this, he still felt a twinge of discomfort upon contact which caused him to wince.

The nurse's expression turned dark as she leaned in to whisper in Midoriya's ear.

"When you got shot, how did it feel?" She asked.

Midoriya's cheeks flushed to white.

What kind of nurse-no. What kind of _person _would ask someone that?

He was stunned to silence until he felt her hand make its way to his chest. A shiver went down his spine and he let out a muffle of a moan. Everything about her, from her smell, to the warmth of her body and the sound of her voice intoxicated him. She jump started his body, and her touch jolted his nerves and expanded his senses.

What was going on?

Why was she doing this?

"Please describe it to me?" Her breath tickled his neck. The sensation spurred Midoriya on to speak.

"I-I-It was like fire in my stomach…" He said weakly, reminiscing on it.

"Yea?!" The nurse gave a high pitched reply, mimicking a woman near the apex of her sexual climax.

"A-And…" Midoriya gulped. What in the world was he doing?! Why was he humoring this?! He didn't want to do this, but he felt as if he was having an outer body experience. He couldn't control himself any longer.

"And it was like being branded on the inside."

"Yes! Thank you so much!" Her hand traced down his chest once more and she looked Midoriya directly in the eyes.

"I _love _bad boys like you," The nurse cooed as she then suddenly pulled back to straighten herself up.

"Let's do this again sometime," She smiled at the quirkless boy devilshy and waved him goodbye as she stepped out of the room.

Midoriya exhaled and leaned his head all the way back against his pillow.

What in the world just happened?

* * *

Minutes flew by like hours while Midoriya pondered on his next move once he got out of the hospital. Being a hero would be out of the question, but did that mean that he could be a police officer? It was still a dangerous job, but, there could be a chance that he could ultimately become a detective, or even get into forensics. That way he can help people without putting himself in harm's way. It was perhaps the only way that he could aid heroes without feeling as if he was just in their way.

He sighed once more as the door to his room opened up. The same nurse as before stepped in and Midoriya's face immediately turned beet red. She giggled at his expression and stepped to the side to reveal both his mom along with another special guest that made his eyes sparkle.

"How are you doing, young man?" The man asked with a bright smile.

Standing in front of Midoriya was a man that he had always idolized growing up. He was the number one hero in the entire world. The beacon of hope for all and the pinnacle of manliness. He was…

"A-A-A-All Might?!"

"I'm glad to see that my modest reputation has spread to someone even as strong as yourself," He said as he gave a haughty laugh. The hero then placed a hand on Midoriya's mom shoulder as Midoriya himself looked on with his mouth agape.

Wait a minute, did All Might just call him strong?!

_The _All Might?

"This beautiful young lady came to my agency begging me to speak to her son who was recovering from a bullet wound. She told me that you were down in the dumps and pleaded with me to speak to you since I was your number one hero. But she got it all wrong," All Might approached Midoriya and placed his hand on the boy's shoulder.

"I came here to say that _you _are now _my _number one hero, Izuku Midoriya."

Midoriya didn't know what to say. All he could do was smile like a complete goofball and cry his eyes out. He was overwhelmed with a sense of validation and self-worth. This feeling unnerved him. Who was he to be looked up to by anyone? All his life he was treated as if he was a nobody. As if he was worthless. But now even All Might himself said that he of all people was his hero.

"Don't give up on your dream, young Midoriya. You can become a hero," All Might assured him with his patented thumbs up and sparkling smile.

Midoriya wiped the tears from his eyes and shook his head. "It's okay, really. I'm fine with the way things are. That is, with me not going to U.A.," He said.

"Are you sure?" His mother asked him. It broke her heart to see her son give up on his dreams. Being a hero was all he talked about ever since he could speak.

Midoriya nodded. "Yes. I've decided to join the Police Academy instead and become a Cadet."

All Might smiled brightly at him. "Excellent choice! If you need anything don't hesitate to ask me, young Midoriya."

"U-Uhm, o-okay," The boy nodded. He couldn't put it into words how much it meant to him that his idol All Might would be there to guide him whenever he needed him.

"Young lady, you know where to find me, and you have my number. Please send young Midoriya to me as soon as he is discharged from the hospital," All Might said to Midoriya's mom.

"Wait, what do you want me to see you for?" Midoriya couldn't help but ask.

All Might winked at him. "It's a secret." He then gave a heartfelt laugh and walked out of the room along with the nurse, leaving only him and his mom inside once again.

…..

"Uhm," Midoriya spoke first. "I'm sorry mom for yelling at you. I promise that I won't do it again. I just…." His voice trailed off as he attempted to make sense of his emotional state at the time. He had never felt so angry and so helpless all at once.

"It's okay honey," His mom assured him. "I understand. You've been through quite a lot. Visiting hours are about to end so I have to go, but please try to get some rest."

Midoriya smiled at her. "Yes ma'am."

After his mom kissed him goodbye and left, Midoriya closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep.

…..

…...

…...

"Interesting."

"Yes, this is most interesting."

_Huh?_

Midoriya awoke with a start. The lights were dimmed since it was night time so he could barely see. However, he could have sworn that he heard someone speak.

"Ah, I see that you are awake now, Izuku Midoriya."

"Wh-Who-What?"

It sounded as if the person was sitting right across from him, but he could not see a single thing. However, the door to his room opened and his nurse stepped in with a wide smile etched on her visage.

"Oh boo. And here I was about to have a little more fun with our resident _bad _boy," She cooed. But as she spoke her skin appeared to have begun to literally melt off of her body. Alarmed, Midoriya attempted to sit up but he couldn't find the strength to do so. In fact, his entire body felt as if it had been paralyzed.

"Wh-What's going on?!" He panicked.

"Ah, I see the local anathestic has kicked in," His "nurse" spoke. Except, she didn't look like a nurse at all. After she had "shedded" the skin of the nurse that she impersonated, what was revealed underneath the disguise was a school aged girl with wild and unruly dirty blonde hair and sharp eyes that matched her sadistic and wide smile.

"What is this!?" Midoriya shouted. Was he having a dream? Was he in a nightmare? He wanted answers. He was confused. Who was she? Why was she impersonating his nurse? How did she do it? Was it her Quirk? Did she impersonate his nurse the entire time? Why?!

"This is nothing more than a job interview," The mysteriously husk voice called out to him.

The "nurse", or crazed schoolgirl as Midoriya would rather refer to her as, walked toward the other side of Midoriya's bed where his lamp was situated and turned it on.

To Midoriya's dismay, a man dressed in an all black three piece suit and donning what he only assumed to have been a faceless mask supported by a breathing apparatus sat before him with his legs crossed. He held a familiar notebook in his hands.

"The 'Hero Analysis For The Future' Notebook huh?' This has been a most interesting read so far," The man said. He sounded genuinely impressed.

"How did you get that?!" Midoriya sputtered. It frustrated him that he could not move around or summon the strength to scream for help.

No, that would have been a terrible idea. If he screamed, then he and everyone else on his floor would die. Quickly. And quietly.

"And who are you?!"

The mysterious man uncrossed his leg and sat forward in his chair closer to the light. He appeared as menacing in the light as he did in the dark.

"My name is All For One. And I am here to speak to the mastermind behind this notebook, Izuku Midoriya."

* * *

**I put in a little Easter Egg for you guys that most would have undoubtedly missed if I had not pointed it out. For those who caught it, bravo. **

**"****And sure enough, first time you took a few steps you moved so quick, you didn't just walk, you started to run."_ \- _Henry Allen to Barry Allen in The Flash TV Show. **

**Be on the look out for more (small) Easter Eggs such as these! **


	3. Chapter 3: The Job Interview

_All For One? _

The name didn't ring any bells.

"Wait a minute, mastermind?!" Midoriya sputtered.

"That's right," The man said as he flipped through the pages of Midoriya's notebook. "So much valuable information. There were some things in here that not even I had known about. I am not an easy man to impress, but I must say, I _am _impressed, Izuku Midoriya."

Midoriya gulped. This guy, whoever he was, was obviously bad news. In that case then his notebook was in the hands of a criminal. Or worse, a villain. Unfortunately, that meant that if any harm would come upon a hero due to the information that he wrote in his notebook, then it would be _his _fault for being so careless.

But wait, didn't he mention that he was only here to conduct a "job interview?" Did that mean that he wanted to recruit him? But for what purpose?

"You mentioned earlier that this was a job interview right?" Midoriya began to ask. His voice wasn't as shaky as it was before. At least he knew that he wasn't in any mortal danger. If he complied with him and acted as if he would go along with whatever he said, then perhaps he could gather enough information to bring to All Might so that he could stop this "All For One" guy.

"That is correct," All For One sat back in his chair and crossed his leg in order to make himself comfortable. "I have a few questions to ask you, if you don't mind."

_As if I have a choice…. _Midoriya thought to himself.

"I don't mind at all," The boy responded.

"Excellent, then let's get started shall we?" All For One then raised a single finger.

"Question number one: what are your parent's quirks?"

_Why is that relevant? _

"My mom can pull small objects to herself, and my dad can breathe fire," He answered honestly. He figured that lying could be a mistake that could cost him his life.

All For One nodded his head. "I see." He then raised two fingers.

"Question number two: What is your quirk?"

Midoriya bit his lip before he responded. "I don't have one…." He answered weakly.

"Interesting. I figured as much," All For One said. "Only someone without a Quirk would spend the vast majority of their time hyper-analyzing the Quirks of others, wouldn't you agree?"

_I guess that makes sense. _Midoriya nodded.

"Now then," All For One raised three fingers. "Question number three: Would you like to have a Quirk?"

_Huh?_

Midoriya's eyes grew wide and his mouth was agape.

"H-Huh?!"

"I said, would you like to have a Quirk?"

"I-" Midoriya searched for the right words to say. Was he being asked a hypothetical question?

Personally, if he could choose any Quirk in the world, then it would be something similar to All Might's. And if that wasn't possible, then perhaps something akin to what his mother could do - but at least on a grander scale.

But what he really wanted was a world where he didn't _have _to choose. Where his worth wasn't measured by the strength of his Quirk, but by the strength of his character. There was an approximate 20% chance that he would be born without a Quirk, and lo and behold he was born without a Quirk.

Maybe he should just learn to accept his lot in life instead of trying to fight against it. There were lots of people that had to, not just him. Perhaps the sooner he accepted it, the sooner he could move on to something else.

With all of these thoughts flowing in his mind, Midoriya stared directly at All For One with resolution in his eyes.

"I have to decline your offer, mister All For One," Midoriya said.

Due to the mysterious man's lack of facial features, Midoriya couldn't tell if he was surprised by his answer or not.

"Oh? And why is that?" He asked. Judging by his voice, he didn't sound surprised either.

"I just…" Midoriya didn't know why he was saying it. It wasn't like he _trusted _All For One, or his "nurse" by any means. But verbalizing his thoughts felt good to him. It felt right. It was the first step he had to take in order to accept his place.

"I just wish that I could live in a world without Quirks."

His eyes trailed down to his stomach where his bullet wound was. All it took was one bad guy with a Quirk to nearly kill him. If he hadn't had a Quirk, then Midoriya could have seen him coming from a mile away.

All For One saw where Midoriya's eyes trailed and chuckled lightly. What a perfect segue into his fourth question.

He raised four fingers and asked, "Question number four: Would you like to work for me?"

Midoriya gulped. Now was his chance to get as much information as he could out of him.

"So does that mean that you want me on board with you?" He asked.

"Certainly. You passed with flying colors," All For One said.

"And what exactly does this job entail?"

"You will be working closely with me and my young associates. I believe that you have already been introduced to Toga," All For One motioned to her as she stood near Midoriya's hospital bed.

She turned to smile at Midoriya madly, which caused him to blush.

"Like you Midoriya, I wish for a better world too. You see, I have the ability to bestow and take Quirks away from any person that I want to."

Midoriya gasped. Was that why he was asked if he wanted to have a Quirk? Because this man, All For One, could bestow Quirks upon him? To have that kind of power was unimaginable.

"So that means-"

"Yes," All For One already knew what Midoriya would say. "I have the ability to make your wish come true. After all, that's what I specialized in doing back when I ruled Japan."

_Huh?_

Did he just hear that right?

In school Midoriya read in his history textbook that there was once a man that became the unquestioned ruler of Japan and bestowed Quirks upon the population. But for what its worth, the story seemed so far-fetched that he thought it was something of a myth, or a tall tale at the very least.

"N-No way…." Midoriya was at a loss for words.

"Come join me Izuku Midoriya. Let us create a perfect world together," All For One said.

For a second Midoriya entertained the idea. How great would it be to finally live in a world where everyone was Quirkless like him? It would be absolute paradise. He wouldn't have to feel like a fish out of water anymore. Heck, _no one _without a Quirk would. However, if what All For One said was true, and he was really the former ruler of Japan, then there was no way that Midoriya could be on board with him.

He didn't want to work for someone that wanted to lord power over people.

"But you said that you used to be the dictator of Japan right?" Midoriya asked. He took All For One's silence as confirmation.

"If that's so then I can't accept your job offer. I don't want to rule over anyone, I just don't want to have to deal with people with Quirks abusing their powers against innocent, Quirkless people. At least All Might doesn't do that."

"All Might you say?" All For One perked up at the mention of his name. "You must not know his secret, do you?"

"Huh? What are you talking about?" Midoriya asked, confused.

"You see, I fought All Might long ago. During our battle we escaped with near-fatal injuries. As you can see, my face is practically gone, and I can only function by using a breathing apparatus. But All Might wasn't much better. I gave him a massive wound in his gut that severely damaged his internal organs. I might have even taken away half of his stomach. But here's the kicker…" All For One uncrossed his leg and leaned in until he sat on the edge of his seat.

"All Might was too weak to save you."

The color drained from Midoriya's face. He heard Toga cackle beside him. What did they know that he didn't? What did they mean?

"He heard your cries for help, but unfortunately he had exhausted his powers saving your classmate from the slime villain earlier in the day. The best thing that he could do was take out his cell phone and dial the police and an ambulance for help. And do you want to know the best part?" All For One asked. If he could still do so, he would give Midoriya a crooked smile in light of the devastated expression that was plastered on his visage.

"The real reason that he visited you was because he knew that he was ultimately responsible for you being shot."

"That's a lie!" Midoriya shut his eyes and shouted at the top of his lungs. His body began to shake as his fists clenched tightly against the his hospital blanket. This meant that the local anesthetic had worn off.

"That can't be true! All Might is the number one hero! He can do anything" It's a lie!" The boy rapidly shook his head, not wanting to believe what All For One had told him.

"You can go see for yourself once you've been discharged from the hospital," All For One said as he stood up from his chair and snapped his fingers. Once he did so, two dark portals opened up against the wall. They appeared to have been nothing more than wells that lead straight to the abyss.

"Think carefully on what I have said, and on my offer. And remember this: if even the number one hero such as All Might was too damaged to save you, then what use is a hero at all?"

With those parting words, All For One stepped through the portal.

Toga took a moment to write her number down on a notepad before tossing it on Midoriya's lap.

"Call me anytime _bad _boy," She laughed maniacally as she walked through the second portal, waving at him.

The villains left behind a devastated Midoriya who buried his face in his hands.

* * *

**A shorter chapter than I would have liked, but it was necessary to have this separate from what comes next. Usually by now in 99% of the Villain Deku fanfics that I've read Midoriya would have been out committing crimes or something. I think the best way to go about it would be to not rush it, and instead let him convince himself that he's doing (or will eventually do) the right thing. **

**He's a good kid, and he always will be, but sometimes that good nature can be twisted or perverted when faced with harsh realities. **

**Anyways, I don't like doing this because I think a story should speak for itself, but I've decided to add some commentary this time on a whim. Let me know if it's useful or not (I feel as if no one reads these things anyways).**

**Also, no Easter eggs this time around. Stay tuned for the next chapter! **


	4. Chapter 4: Successor

Midoriya barely managed to catch any sleep last night.

Everything that transpired the evening before felt like nothing more than an awful dream. All For One sounded like bad news, as did his henchmen, Toga, who possessed a Quirk to impersonate people.

All For One in particular however unnerved him. He was the former dictator of Japan for crying out loud! Just how old was he? How did he survive for so long? Was it due to his Quirk? It must have been since he had the ungodly ability to siphon Quirks from others and pass Quirks on as well.

Especially if what he said was true and he managed to mortally wound All Might to the extent that he claimed to have done.

Yet in spite of this information, Midoriya tucked away Toga's phone number that she wrote on a notepad underneath his pillow.

What was he, crazy?! Did he really want to associate himself with villains?!

_Well technically they haven't hurt anyone yet, have they? _He thought to himself. All For One may have hurt people a long time ago, but had he turned over a new leaf? He didn't know for sure, but they did give off a very, very bad vibe.

He knew that if All For One wished, he could have wiped out the entire hospital on a whim.

But he chose not to. Instead, he was far more interested in Midoriya and his notebook of information on the strengths and weaknesses of practically every pro hero imaginable.

Wasn't that evidence enough that he was up to no good?

_Gah! Why am I hesitating to do the right thing?! The choice is obvious! But…_

All For One believed in him. He even offered him a job. Sure Midoriya declined his proposition, but still, it was the thought that counts right? He saw merit in his vision. That sense of validation was nice to have regardless of its source.

Midoriya was tired of adults with Quirks lying to him all of the time, giving him false platitudes and telling him that a Quirkless boy could become a hero. In some ways he was thankful for his classmates and even to Bakugou for trying to get him to accept his limitations so that he wouldn't put himself in harm's way and make a fool out of himself in the process.

Come to think of it, All For One said that he passed his interview with "flying colors" _after _he had declined his offer to gain a Quirk. If he was truly up to no good, then wouldn't he have disposed of him while keeping his notebook to incapacitate or kill every pro hero that he could with its aid?

Why would he want to offer him a job? As in, what did he specifically want him to do? Analyze the weaknesses of pro heroes and feed the information back to him? Did All For One really believe that he would do such a thing?

"If he does, then he doesn't know me at all," Midoriya muttered to himself.

His thoughts were interrupted suddenly when the door opened and a tall lanky man with a beige buttoned overcoat and similarly colored top hat stepped in the room.

He also wore white gloves and an all-white button-up with a navy blue tie and black slacks along with a pair of black dress shoes. He looked like a detective straight out of a Noir-style comic book.

"Good morning," The man began to say as he removed his top hat and introduced himself. "My name is Detective Tsukauchi and I work with the Police Force. You mind if I ask you a few questions, mister Midoriya?"

Midoriya couldn't help but sigh. He wasn't in the mood to answer questions, or to talk in general. He still had a very tired and haggard expression on his face, but he forced himself to smile, albeit weakly.

"Sure, no problem," He said as he sat up in his hospital bed.

"Excellent," The detective then pulled up the same chair that All For One sat in and sat there himself. "First, I would like to ask you about your condition. Are you doing okay?"

"The doctors haven't made their rounds yet," Midoriya began to say. "But I haven't been told any bad news yet. So I guess in this case, no news is good news."

"That it is," The detective agreed. He then shifted gears as he donned a more serious expression. "I'm going to ask you a few questions that may trigger some unpleasant memories of your ordeal, is that okay?"

Midoriya nodded his head. "Yes, it's fine." He wanted to cooperate so that the person that shot him could be promptly put to justice.

"Great!" The detective exclaimed as he reached into one of the pockets of his overcoat and pulled out a pen and a miniature notebook.

"First question is one that I have to ask. Do you have any enemies that you or your family would be aware of?"

Midoriya shook his head. "No, I'm sure that it was a random incident since he wanted to rob me."

"Well, chances were that you could have been targeted and the perpetrator was told to make it _look_ like a robbery," The detective explained.

Midioriya could not argue with the logic of that.

"Still, if you don't believe that your family has made any enemies, then I will move on to my next question. Did you manage to get a good look at the perpetrator?"

Midoriya shook his head once more. "No, he wore a black ski mask. He sounded like he was in his mid-thirties, and most likely a smoker. He didn't have an accent, but his breath did smell. I never smelt anything like it before…."

"It was probably alcohol," The detective said. "But still, it's amazing that you are able to recall such detailed information in spite of what you've gone through. You may have a future in this line of work."

Midoriya smiled sheepishly. "I'm just doing what I can to help."

"Well regardless, you have a knack for recalling details. Have you considered joining the Police Academy?"

"I have actually," Midoriya perked up at this. Here he has, speaking to a detective, he could ask him anything that he wanted to about the program.

"If you want we could speak more offline, but as for now I'm on the clock unfortunately," The detective said.

Midoriya nodded. "Yes, I'd love to speak with you whenever you're available."

The detective smiled at the boy. "I'm glad to hear it. Now, on to my next question. Did you happen to take a good look at the gun that he used? You don't have to know the model, but just a vague description could help-"

"It was a standard issue Beretta M9, maybe an Italian model," Midoriya said while cupping his chin.

The detective was stunned to silence.

"U-Uh," Midoriya sputtered. "When Snipe was first starting out as a Pro Hero he favored that gun before he switched over to his customized weapons."

"That he did," The detective said as he made sure to jot down what Midoriya said. "Well, you've given me more than enough valuable information to go off of. It's been a pleasure speaking with you," He said as he rose up from his seat.

"Likewise," Midoriya smiled brightly at him. He appeared to have been far more chipper due to the nature of his conversation with Detective Tsukauchi.

The detective reached into his coat pocket and handed Midoriya his card. "I look forward to speaking with you and someday seeing you at the Academy," He said with a smile.

Midoriya's eyes glistened with child-like jubilance as he took the card in his hand and nodded.

The detective put on his top hat and began to walk toward the door, but before he then suddenly to turn back to look at Midoriya.

"Oh, and one more thing," The detective began. "You seem like a good kid so I don't think that I have to tell you this, but try to keep your nose clean if you do decide to join the Academy."

"Yes sir!" Midoriya exclaimed.

Later that morning the doctors made their usual rounds and after checking his vital signs, assured Midoriya that he could be potentially discharged within the next couple days or so.

From what he was told, the doctors managed to remove the bullet from his stomach and that thankfully he didn't suffer any major organ damage.

The bullet was a few inches away from his spleen and if it had ruptured it, he could have died from internal bleeding.

Since he was still young and in relative good health he was cleared to walk around the hospital as he pleased. After being confined to his hospital bed for the last couple of days his first few steps were hard, but after awhile he managed to walk as normal.

His mom visited him that afternoon with some of the schoolwork that he had missed out on. Thankfully it wasn't anything that he couldn't handle.

No outrageous projects or essays, but the school year was coming to a close soon and he had to worry about his final exams as well as entrance exams and to make a serious decision on the direction that he wanted to go with his life.

His number one option was to join the Police Academy and to become a Cadet. However, the Academy was no walk in the park.

It was a very rigorous four year course that was akin to the Hero's Course at U.A. There's no way that Midoriya would be able to survive it the way he was now. He had to get in shape.

If that didn't work out for whatever reason, then he could always work for his dad. But he didn't like the idea of going overseas and leaving his mom behind. His dad was gone for years at a time. The last time that he saw him was several years ago during the summer.

The fact that he said that he would show up next summer seemed unlikely, but Midoriya's dad wasn't one to be mistaken on such a thing. He probably had it all planned out in advanced. But still, he couldn't shake the feeling that "something" would come up and force his dad to stay overseas for work.

That's because something always did.

* * *

A couple of days passed by unceremoniously, and Midoriya was finally discharged from the hospital. Overall he had been admitted for approximately four and a half days, and in spite of everything that transpired while he was in there, he was thankful for the experience.

Since Midoriya was discharged from the hospital early in the morning, he still had enough time to go home and get dressed to go school.

His mom urged him to take the day off, but Midoriya was far too restless for that. If he was cooped up any longer than he didn't know what he'd do. Probably scream.

His classmates treated him surprisingly well on his first day back, and he knew that it wasn't out of sympathy. They seemed to have thought well of him. Hell, he overhead some guys whispering to his friend that they shouldn't mess with him since he was "tough enough to survive a bullet."

Even Bakugou of all people didn't mess with him. Midoriya did catch him leering at him a few times, but it wasn't the usual stare of disgust. He had honestly never seen him give anyone that look before. Could he be jealous? What would he be jealous for? Not being shot?

Well, if there was anyone that would be envious of that, it would be Bakugou. Maybe he didn't like all of the positive attention that Midoriya received? That was more like it.

After the final bell rang and Midoriya gathered his belongings, he exited the classroom and the school. But before he managed to walk clear of the campus, he was suddenly shoved into a corner by someone to his side.

"Ah!" Midoriya gasped when his back hit the stone wall of the school building.

To his dismay it was Bakugou that had done it. He looked visibly upset, which wasn't anything new, but it wasn't like his demeanor earlier during the day.

"Were you faking it the whole time?! Huh Deku?!" Bakugou shouted at him.

"H-Huh?" Midoriya didn't understand what he was talking about. Why was he so upset at him? What did he do?

"You heard me the first time!" Bakugou grabbed Midoriya by his collar.

"I don't understand your question!" Midoriya shouted back at him. He was confused, and it in turn made him agitated. What was his problem?! Why couldn't he just leave him alone like he did before?!

"If you were tough enough to survive a bullet then why did you pretend to be a useless shrimp your entire life!?"

"Huh?" Midoriya's face sunk. "Is that what this is all about?"

He had to ask him a question for the sake of clarification.

"Do you think that I'm tough, Kaachan?"

"Don't call me that!" Bakugou shoved Midoriya hard against the wall, causing the boy to grunt.

"Listen! Don't go getting any ideas about joining U.A.! Got it?" Bakugou said as he turned to walk away. But as he did so, he said one final thing.

"Someone like you would be more suited to join the Police Academy."

Midoriya's eyes lit up. Did Bakugou just acknowledge him? Sure he had his own way of going about it, but Midoriya was privy to the language that he spoke.

Perhaps Bakugou felt as if Midoriya was feigning weakness the entire time. But what he didn't know was that the reason Midoriya was so tough was because he took his cue from Bakugou. Like him he was just too stubborn to quit, or to die.

On his way back home Midoriya couldn't help but think that he had forgot about something important. There was someone that he was supposed to have talked to.

_No, not the detective…_ He thought. He planned on speaking with him after he had passed his final exams.

Then it hit him.

Literally.

He didn't look where he was walking so he bumped into someone.

Except this certain someone was so well built that it caused Midoriya to fall flat on his bottom.

"Ack!" The boy sputtered. He looked up to see exactly who or what he had ran into, but was shocked to see who it was.

"All Might!" Midoriya exclaimed.

"Good afternoon, young Midoriya," All Might said as he flashed him a smile.

"Good afternoon All Might sir!" Midoriya quickly stood back up on his feet and at attention. "I'm sorry I forgot to call you! I know that you wanted to speak with me!"

All Might gave Midoriya a haughty laugh. "No problem, I just happened to have been in the area and decided to drop by to see if you were home yet. Thankfully I managed to run into you."

Midoriya couldn't but smile like a schoolgirl. Here he was, conversing with his hero, his idol, All Might. How many kids would _kill _to be in his position?!

"S-So, to what do I owe the honor?" The boy asked him.

"Well, let me cut to the chase," All Might said as he deeply exhaled. Once he did so, a plume of white smoke filled the area. It was thick enough to cause Midoriya to cough. Once the smog lifted however, what he saw caused him to gasp.

"What the-"

The All Might that he saw was _nothing _like the All Might that he practically worshiped his entire life. _This _All Might was deathly thin and frail. He was like a bag of bones. His face was angular and, when he coughed, blood spewed forth from his mouth.

What in the world was going on?!

All Might wiped the blood from his mouth before he spoke.

"Listen, as you can see, I do not have long left, and I am in need of a successor. So my question to you is this, young Midoriya," All Might glared at Midoriya.

"Would you do me the honor of being my successor?"

* * *

**Next chapter will be the end of the Prologue and the start of the First Arc. In my head I have about four arcs planned in total. **

**Also, thank you guys for pointing out the whole "Midoriya"/"Izuku" name debacle. I'm not sure what I was thinking but I tend to update past midnight so there are times where my mind is all jumbled up I guess. Plus in the series he's called Midoriya and Deku so much that I just forgot that certain people like his mom call him by his first name (though that should be common sense but whatever). **

**Anyways, no Easter Eggs this time either, but there will be plenty in the First Arc. **

**Do you think that Izuku will take All Might on his offer? Obviously the description of the story aside, do you think that Midoriya as he has been portrayed so far would or should accept All Might's proposal to be his successor, or refuse? Why or Why not? **


	5. Chapter 5: End Of Prologue

"Wh-What?"

All Might, or rather, the _husk _of All Might, coughed once more. This time there was no blood, but it was still a pained cough nonetheless.

"I said, I want you to be my successor," The pro hero said once more.

Midoriya searched his gaze for any inkling of doubt, but he found none. This was serious. All Might was serious. But why? Why him? It didn't make any sense-

Wait...what did All For One tell him?

"_The real reason that he visited you was because he knew that he was ultimately responsible for you being shot." _

Midoriya gritted his teeth. Was that what this was all about? Did All Might simply take pity on him? The Quirkless boy felt fire in his gut, the same fire that burned when he opted to punch Bakugou in his face. Now he would never dream of attacking his idol, but he was still upset at the prospect of his idol seeing him a charity case.

"Why me?" Midoriya asked. His voice was low since he already had his doubts about the authenticity of All Might's request.

"It would be a shame if a Quirkless boy such as yourself had his dreams dashed by a dastardly villain," All Might began to say as he paused once more to cough. "Your mother told me that you wanted to get into U.A. right? Well here's your chance to realize your dream of being a pro hero!"

Midoriya was confused. Why did All Might insist that he apply for the U.A. course? He'd still be Quirkless, and the result would still be the same - he'd end up hurt.

"I don't understand. Even if you train me, no matter what, I'll still be Quirkless."

"That's where you're wrong, young Midoriya. I can pass my Quirk down to you," All Might responded.

Midoriya's eyes widened with shock.

There was a lot of speculation about what All Might's quirk actually was. It didn't seem as if it was a simple reinforcement quirk. The power that he wielded was unprecedented. He was faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, and he was able to leap tall buildings in a single bound. So if his Quirk was able to be passed on, then did that mean that….

"All Might, were you once Quirkless?"

All Might gave him a weak nod. "Yes, that is correct, young Midoriya. I was once a Quirkless student in U.A., but then my mentor passed on her Quirk, One For All, to me."

_One For All? _Midoriya thought.

According to All For One, he had the ability to take Quirks away and bestow Quirks onto others. Was it somehow linked to One For All?

"But still, that's no reason to make me your successor just because I'm Quirkless. There's a lot of Quirkless boys that have been injured or hurt by criminals, and there are even some that are deathly ill, so why me?" Midoriya asked once again.

"I already told you that I want to join the Police Academy and become a Cadet. I don't want to be a hero anymore…."

"Young Midoriya, we are more alike than you think," All Might said. He pulled up his shirt to reveal a vicious scar on his abdomen. His gut was horribly disfigured even after the doctors did the best they could to stitch and suture his wound.

"Five years ago I was involved in an incident that left me crippled. I had two choices. Either give up being a pro hero, or keep going. I chose to keep going, and you can too," All Might took a step forward to place his hand on Midoriya's shoulder.

"Besides, the original purpose of One For All was to help make other people's dreams come true."

_All For One was right. _Midoriya thought. He clenched his fist tightly.

"All Might," Midoriya began, his voice was low, menacingly so. "I have a question to ask you. And I want you to give me an honest answer, okay?"

All Might nodded. "You have my word that I will tell you the truth, young Midoriya."

"Then is the only reason that you want me to be your successor is because that you feel guilty for not being able to prevent me from getting shot?"

…

There was a pregnant pause.

All Might's expression was downcast, defeated even. He inhaled as deeply as he could before he answered his question.

"It's true that due to my weakened state, all I could do was call the police. But-"

Midoriya swatted All Might's hand that was on his shoulder and stepped back. He looked at him with a vexed expression. He was angry, hurt, and confused all at once.

"I don't want to inherit the Quirk of someone that can't save people! I don't _want _a Quirk at all!" Midoriya shouted. "If even the number one hero with the best Quirk imaginable can get mortally wounded and become unable to save a life…" His voice trailed off ever so slightly, but then he looked up at All Might once more and yelled,

"Then what use is a hero at all!"

All Might searched Midoriya gaze and from his vantage point, he saw a lot of pain that had melded with his anger. All Might could relate to him. Getting into U.A. was hell on Earth. He was constantly being bullied over and over again, reminded day in and day out how someone without a Quirk would be unable to become a pro hero.

Like Midoriya, he tried to persevere as best as he could. However, he wondered what direction his life would have taken if he had his dreams crushed by a villain like young Midoriya did. He wouldn't have had the resolve to insist on helping out by joining the Police Academy. He was sure of that. If it wasn't for his mentor, or for Gran Torino, then he wouldn't be the person that he was today.

"Young Midoriya, I understand you, more than you know. You were right, I was there when you got shot, and I am ashamed to admit that I was too weak to save you at the time. However, I _can _save a life, and I am choosing to save yours by letting you live out your dream. And by proxy," All Might spread his arms out wide.

"This decision could save the lives of countless other people since you would undoubtedly go on to become a great hero that will save an unheralded amount of civilians. I truly believe that only _you _possess the strong will and determination to strive to help others even after the police and pro heroes failed to come to your aid in your hour of need."

"Stop it…." Midoriya's voice was as quiet as a whisper.

"Stop it. Stop it. Stop it. Just stop it!" He continuously raised his voice until he began to shout.

Was All For One right? Did All Might only see him as a charity case? At first Midoriya thought that he was right, but now All Might was saying that he doesn't, and that he respects his resolve.

Which is it?! He was so confused. He wished that he didn't _have _to make this decision. He wish that he didn't have to choose. Life would be better if….

If there were no Quirks.

"I don't want a Quirk! I don't want any Quirks! Why can't we live in a world without Quirks? Why do people have to get hurt by other people just because they were born different? You understand that, right All Might? You said that you were Quirkless, so you should understand. You should understand that…."

Midoriya began to tear up, but he quickly wiped them away. He was tired of crying. He was tired of everything. Maybe the stress of his traumatic situation still haunted him. Maybe it held more influence over his decisions and his actions than he cared to admit. But he was resolute in his stance.

"You should understand that the world would be better off if there were no Quirks at all."

All Might remained silent.

"I don't _need_ a Quirk. I don't _want_ a Quirk. I'm just tired of being the victim of circumstances that are out of my control," Midoriya said. As he spoke he saw All Might's expression visibly deflate. It hurt Midoriya that he was disappointing the person that he looked up to the most, but life had already taught him harsh lessons early on. He was done with deluding himself.

"I realize now that the only reason I wanted a Quirk was so that I could stop being helpless around bullies who had them. I want to help people, and I don't have to go kill myself by going to U.A. to do that, or worse, becoming a Quirkless pro hero only to die by a thief with a gun."

He placed his hand over his stomach where he had been shot to emphasize his point.

Midoriya began to walk past All Might, who stood motionless.

"I'm sorry All Might, but I will not be your successor. Please find someone that is better suited."

As Midoriya walked away All Might turned to call to him.

"Young Midoriya, if you want to join the Police Academy then you will need to be trained first! Why not at least do me the honor of training you?"

Midoriya stopped in his tracks. He then responded to All Might without looking back at him.

"I will be fine, All Might. There have been other Quirkless students who managed to train and join the Police Academy without your help. I should be capable of doing the same."

And with those parting words, Midoriya walked home.

* * *

"I found all the information I could on Hisashi Midoriya, as well as Inko Midoriya," A deathly pale man said. He incessantly scratched his messy and matted down greyish blue hair, causing flakes to fall. He looked extremely unkempt.

"Excellent work Tomura," All For One spoke to him through a monitor.

"So what did you need information on his parents for? If that Izuku kid that you visited in the hospital refused your offer, then we should have just eliminated him. What if he blabs to the police? Or to All Might?"

"Patience Tomura," All For One chided him.

"Madness is a lot like gravity. Sometimes all it takes is a little push."

* * *

**This concludes the Prologue. A little shorter than what I would have liked but I didn't want to drag it on. **

**I foresee The First Arc being about 3-4 chapters long, maybe 5 or 6 at the max. It will be titled the Born Again arc. And yes, for those of you who are into comics, it will be heavily based off of Frank Miller's Daredevil Born Again (my favorite Marvel comic of all time). An appropriate name for what I plan to have accomplished by the end of it. **

**Also, I was asked why All Might would choose Midoriya to be his sucessor, and I hope that this chapter adequately answered that question. I think the bigger travesty in All Might's eyes would be allowing the deeds of a criminal that nearly killed a Quirkless boy to shatter said boy's hopes and dreams, especially if he could have prevented it if he had been healthy. **

**It wasn't just about seeing Izuku as a charity case. It was about righting wrongs and letting someone who in spite of being shot but still resolved to help others and not become bitter about his own lack of help in his time of need, finally have the chance to get a Quirk and live out his dream of becoming a pro hero. **

**I think there's an underlying kinship that All Might has with Izuku since as far as I know, a lot of Quirkless people and students in general wouldn't even attempt to join U.A. or become a pro hero at all. The fact that they chose to do it in spite of not having a Quirk makes them an anomaly. I could be wrong though but that's just my explanation and how I see it. **

**If this explanation holds up let me know. If not then let me know as well. Reviews, comments, and critiques are always welcome. I'm different than most people. I'd actually rather have more negative critiques and/or questions than positive ones because sometimes I tend to get too complacent. **

**Anyways I don't like doing these explanations because as I said before, I think a story should be able to stand on its own without it but I might learn to love it someday. **

**There were a couple of Easter Eggs that I'm sure you guys caught. But just in case. **

**"****He was faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, and he was able to leap tall buildings in a single bound." - Superman Opening Crawl 40's cartoon (Or something like that. Too lazy to Google and double check.) **

**"Madness is a lot like gravity. Sometimes all it takes is a little push." - The Joker (The Dark Knight)**

**Stay tuned for the beginning of the Born Again Arc! **

**What direction do you guys think that the Arc will go in? What do you think All For One has planned? **


	6. Born Again Arc - I

**I apologize for the hiatus. I became violently ill three days after I posted my last chapter. I'm talking can't swallow soup ill. Had to take off of work for weeks. It was very bad. However now I'm feeling better, so enjoy this double-feature. This chapter was short simply because I didn't want to combine it with the next chapter. Just think of it as a training montage. **

**Anyways, enjoy. **

* * *

As the school year began to wind down, Midoriya's days became more and more regimented.

He ran three miles every morning before school started. Although his mother wasn't keen on allowing him to do so after he got shot by what the news station had dubbed the criminal known as the "Night Stalker", who has the ability to camouflage himself and hide in plain sight, Midoriya insisted upon doing so.

He had to get in shape if he wanted to pass the entrance fitness test for the Police Academy. One of the requirements was that he had to be able to run three miles in anywhere from 21 to 26 minutes.

Breaking the numbers down that meant that he had to keep up at the very least an 8 and a half minutes per mile pace. It was a lot tougher than he thought it would be, but that was why after school he trained with Detective Tsukauchi.

The Detective laid out exactly how the Police Academy's physical fitness test worked.

From what he said, the first exercise that all entrants had to perform were sit-ups. Everyone would partner up with another person and one person would count while the other performed the exercise and once the scores were tallied, then the partners would swap roles. The second exercise that the candidates were required to perform were push-ups.

The same partners would go through the same routine as they did with sti-ups. One would count while the other watched, and then they would swap roles again. However, it was a timed event, and each individual only had a minute and a half to perform as many push-ups and sit-ups they could. And finally, after a brief seven minute break, the last part of the test was the three mile timed run.

Detective Tsukauchi gave Midoriya a chart which displayed different ages and the minimum amount of push-ups and sit-ups required to pass as well as the slowest possible run time it would require for him to pass.

From what he was shown, the minimum amount of sit-ups he had to in a minute and a half to pass were 60. And the minimum amount of push-ups he had to do in a minute and a half were 50. And the slowest that he could run his three mile run was 26 minutes.

In his head achieving those results did not seem terribly difficult. There were times that he worked out alone in his room doing a few push-ups and sit-ups here and there. However, doing it under time constraints was a different story altogether.

Not only that, but he during his push-ups he had to maintain the "up" position if he wanted to "rest" or catch his breath. It was then that he realized just how weak his upper body strength was in general. Maintaining the "up" position for even 10 seconds in between his sets turned his arms to mush.

When he first started out he could only do 40 sit-ups and 35 push-ups in a minute and a half each. He severely underestimated how difficult it would be to do the exercises within the time limit and he had issues pacing himself. And his run time was laughably bad, at first he could only manage to run three miles in 35 minutes.

However, Detective Tsukauchi managed to give him a few tips and tricks to help him along the way. Such as going for spurts of 10 while taking a designated 5 second rest between each set of 10. This way, he was able to pace himself better.

The results worked wonders for him, and Detective Tsukauchi was proud to say the least. Midoriya had come a long way through nothing more than his own hard work and sheer determination and will power.

After going for a three mile run together, the detective took out his phone and showed Midoriya a picture of him.

"Look, this was you several months ago," The detective said. The picture showed Midoriya sprawled on the ground in a cold sweat. His arms and legs were spread out, and his mouth was open. He appeared to have looked absolutely gassed.

"You were this exhausted after only running a mile and a half. Now look at you, you can practically keep up with me!" The detective smiled and patted the quirkless boy on his back.

Midoriya teared up a bit. "I'm so thankful for you. It's strange, I feel blessed you know? In spite of everything that I've been through, I still feel blessed."

"Make no mistake Midoriya," The detective looked up into the sky.

"In this world, we make our own blessings."


	7. Born Again Arc - II

The entrance exam for the Police Academy was merely one week away. And as since school was out for the summer, Midioriya found himself with more free time than he could handle. He spent the bulk of his time helping his mom out as best as he could.

However, his mom had been acting a bit disheveled lately.

She seemed stressed about something, but whenever Midoriya tried to ask her what was wrong his mom would brush it off and tell him that it was "nothing." He wanted to press the issue but he was worried that if he did so then it would start an argument.

"Izuku honey, what would you like for dinner?" His mom asked him.

"How about some Katsudon?" He respectfully requested.

As Midoriya entered the kitchen, he saw his mother scrambling through the kitchen cabinets and the refrigerator frantically. Again, she appeared to have looked out of sorts. He frowned as he gazed at her. Did he ask too much out of her?

"Mom," Midoriya began to say. "It's okay if you don't have the ingredients for it."

"But I know that it's your favorite honey," His mom continued to scramble around before Midoriya approached her and put his hand on her shoulder.

"Mom!" He said sternly.

His voice shook her.

"I said it's okay."

She looked down with a sunken expression for a brief moment before she took in a deep breath to calm herself. She straightened out her hair and her apron and turned to her son and said,

"How about Soba and Udon?"

Midioriya smiled at her and nodded.

"That'll be just fine."

It didn't take more than an hour for his mom to prepare two bowls - one for him and one for her. He had set the table for them in order to give his mother less to worry about since she seemed to have a lot on her mind already, but for the time being she appeared to have been in good spirits.

After they said their grace they began to eat in relative silence until Inko's phone vibrated in her pocket.

"I'm sorry honey, do you mind if I check this?" She asked him.

"Uhm, sure, of course it's fine," He responded back to her. He found it odd that she asked him for his permission first.

When his mother checked her phone her face turned visibly distraught. It was apparent that whatever message that she had just received was bad news.

"Mom, are you okay?" Midoriya asked her.

"U-Uhm," Inko swiftly put her phone back into her pocket. "It's fine," She gave him a forced smile.

Midoriya gave an exasperated sigh. He was worried, and he wanted to get to the bottom of his mother's stress, but she wasn't being cooperative at all. It seems as if he'd have to do a little digging.

He stood up suddenly from his chair and asked, "May I be excused?"

"But you didn't finish the rest of your food-"

"I'll have it for lunch tomorrow."

Inko appeared crest fallen. She didn't want her worries to stress her son out. She tried to keep it together as best as she could, but she felt as if everything was falling apart.

"Okay dear, I'll save it for you."

"Thank you mom. Good night," Midoriya walked towards his room and closed the door behind himself.

A few hours passed, and Midoriya was still wide awake. He hadn't planned on going to sleep after all. He checked the time on his phone and it read that it was midnight.

Perfect.

His mother was always asleep by that time.

He quietly cracked his bedroom door open and slipped out of his room. Once he was in front of his mother's bedroom door, he cracked it open ever so slightly so that he could peak through.

Just as he thought, his mother was soundly asleep.

He quietly slipped in her room and approached her night stand where her phone was. He carefully picked it up and turned the phone on. Once he was on the passcode screen he put in the digits for his birthday and he was able to gain access to her phone.

_You should really come up with a better passcode, mom. _Midoriya thought.

He opened up her messages and was shocked with what he had saw.

His mother had been trying to call and message his father for the past six months to no avail. There weren't any read receipts either, meaning this dad didn't look at her messages at all.

The last message that his mother sent his father was earlier that morning, which read:

"_I just used the last of the emergency funds for the mortgage. But I'm still behind on the electric bill, as well as the phone bill. Please honey I don't know what's going on but please answer me. Please. We need you. Our son needs you. I don't know how long we can keep this up." _

_What's going on? _

His father never ignored his mother, or him for that matter. He was always a call or a text message away. It was as if he had just…disappeared.

Midoriya then backed out of the message thread between his mother and his father and clicked on the message that his mom received at dinner.

And to his horror, it read that the funds that his mother sent to pay the mortgage was declined.

The message also read that due to the fraudulent nature of the funds used, all occupants would be evicted within the week.

Devastated, Midoriya quietly put his mother's phone back on the nightstand and exited out of her room, being sure to quietly close the door behind himself.

He went back to his room and laid down in complete distress.

What was he going to do?

What were _they _going to do?

In a week he had to take the physical fitness exam to get into the Cadet Academy. But there was no way that he could focus on that while him and his mother were being put out of their home.

And what was his father doing?

Why was he ignoring his mom?

What possible excuse could he have?

_He has no excuse._ Midoriya thought.

He didn't know how long it would take for him to forgive his dad for this. Assuming that he ever could.

Desperate for a solution, Midoriya looked under his pillow to find a notepad with a number on it that he had kept. He never imagined that he would ever use it, but at this point in time he had no choice.

He dialed the number and it only had to ring one time before it was answered.

"Hello bad boy, I just _knew _that you'd call!" Toga answered enthusiastically.

"How did you know that this was my numb-" Midoriya shook his head. He had more important things to worry about.

"Is that job offer still open?"

* * *

**No Easter Eggs in this chapter, but there will be some in the next chapter. I hope you guys enjoyed the brief double-chapter feature. Now we're going to get into the meat of the Born Again Arc. **

**Be sure to rate, comment/review. It's always welcomed. **

**I'll do my best to post the next chapter later on tonight. **


	8. Born Again Arc - III

**I apologize for the delays. Work and school swamped me. So please enjoy this triple-feature!**

* * *

Midoriya was given an address by Toga and he was told to be at the location in fifteen minutes. He was told to then call her once he had arrived there. Those instructions seemed simple enough to follow, though he was still nervous nonetheless.

He needed the money as soon as possible, but he didn't want to hurt anyone or rob innocent people in order to get it. The quirkless boy had to make it clear to All For One that he wasn't in it to cause trouble. He really wanted an honest job. Though, deep down he knew that the likelihood of his work being anything but dishonest would be slim at best.

The walk from his house to the predescribed coordinates only took him ten minutes at most. The location that he was given was the outside of an abandoned warehouse that he would cut through from time to time whenever he walked home from school. He took out his phone and dialed the number that Toga had given him once more.

"Hello, this is Izuku, I'm here."

Silence.

Then he heard her voice whisper from behind him.

"I just _knew _that you'd come!"

Midoriya nearly jumped out of his skin. He turned to face her with shock plastered all over his visage. How in the world did she get behind him?

"Where did you come from?!" He sputtered.

Toga cackled uncontrollably and pointed towards an alleyway beside the warehouse.

"I warped here silly," She gave him an amused grin.

"Warped?!" Midoriya said in bewilderment. Was that a part of her quirk?

She then suddenly grabbed Midoriya's hand and leaned into him. Her mouth was close to his ear, and he could feel her breath tickle his neck. The quirkless boy's face turned bright red and he tried to look away to calm his nerves.

_Too close! _

"Hang on tight!"

Before Midoriya could fully process what she had said, he felt a disgusting urge to vomit. When he opened his mouth he spewed forth a charcoal black liquid that smelled even worse than it looked. The liquid began to wrap around his entire body no matter how hard he tried to resist.

Then the next thing he knew, everything turned black.

Midoriya arrived at the location that he was warped to on his knees in a coughing fit. He tried as hard as he could to catch his breath but he felt as if his lungs were on fire. What kind of quirk was that? Even he had never seen or heard of such a quirk before.

"Awww, you'll get used to it," He heard Toga coo to him while patting his back like a mother would do her child.

When he finally managed to regain his composure he looked up to see an entire group of people staring at him, perhaps to discern if he was friend or foe.

One of them sat at the barstool. His skin appeared to have been old, decayed, and decrepit. As well as flaky. He had unruly light blue hair and his face was covered with what Midoriya could only assume to have been a hand of a mannequin. Only his left eye was visible, and he appeared displeased.

"Welcome, Izuku Midoriya, is it?" A man behind the bar asked. Well, perhaps calling him a man was far too kind. He had a ghastly appearance and glowing yellow eyes, however he wore a suit in the similar fashion that a butler would.

"Y-Yes," Midoriya responded with a shaky voice.

One of the men stood to the side of the room dressed in a dark costume with a mask covering his face. He appeared disinterested at first, however when he looked at Midoriya his expression suddenly turned hospitable.

"Welcome! Welcome! Make yourself at home!" The man said in a sweet tone.

"Or not! I don't care!" The man also exclaimed in a far more even tone.

Midoriya simply blinked. He couldn't make heads or tails on whether the man or sincere, or simple insane.

The ghastly man continued to speak as if he had not heard the outburst. Perhaps the other man's esoteric mannerisms was in fact, common place.

"Ah, we have been expecting-"

"Why do you want this job?" The man with the unruly blue hair cut him off as he spoke. He narrowed his eyes Midoriya.

Midoriya knew that there was no reason for him to lie. He had to remain as transparent as possible.

"I'm desperate," Midoriya began to say as he clenched his fists. "I am in desperate need of money. My mom can't afford to pay the bills anymore, and if I don't come up with enough money by next week then we will be put out!"

"So what you're saying is that you plan on ditching us after you get what you want?" The man stood up from his bar stool and began to flex his wrist.

Midoriya didn't know why, but he began to become nervous. The man before him gave off a murderous vibe that sent chills down his spine. He was in grave danger. If he didn't give a satisfactory answer then his entire life be over in a split second. He could feel it.

Sweat dripped from his chin as he tried his best to come up with a good answer, but the ghostly man from behind the bar spoke up in Midoriya's defense.

"Wait, Tomura! You are being too harsh. He said that he's here to work, and All For One said-"

Tomura turned to the man and gave him a death glare.

"What I am saying is how can we trust the half-assed loyalty of some brat, Kurogiri?" Tomura turned his attention back to Midoriya, who continued to sweat profusely.

"What's to say that he won't run his mouth about us after the job? What if he tells All Might? I don't trust him," He took a step closer to Midoriya, who in turn took a step back.

"Do you want to know what my quirk does, Izuku?" Tomura asked as he opened his gloved hand and began to reach out to the quirkless boy.

"When all five fingers of my hands touch something, or someone," He smiled devilishly at him.

"They disappear."

Midoriya immediately dropped to his knees and lowered his head. This was all he could do. He had to beg, he had to plead for his life.

"Please! Let me do this job and I'll be indebted to you! I'll do whatever you want!" Midoriya begged.

"I can't trust the word of someone whose dream is to join the Police Academy," Tomura responded.

Tomura's hand began to inch closer and closer to the back of Midoriya's head. The quirkless boy could sense Tomura's hand hover over him, but he continued to bury his head face down on the wooden floor of the bar. His anxiety caused his body to shake and he gritted his teeth tightly.

"Tomura!" Kurogiri yelled at him.

"Don't hurt him!" The masked man shouted.

"Turn him to ash!" He also yelled.

However, their attention was diverted by Toga wheeling a television set onto the back of the bar.

On the television monitor was All For One himself.


	9. Born Again Arc - IV

"That is quite enough, Tomura," All For One said as he rested his cheek against his fist.

Tomura scoffed. He was quite literally a hair away from turning the boy into dust. He huffed and walked back towards his stool and took a seat once more. He had a bored expression on his visage.

Midoriya looked up to see All For One on the monitor. However, he did not have on his mask. Everything from his nose down was visible, but his eyes and his hair was not. Still, Midioriya couldn't help but notice that he looked remarkably young for someone that had claimed to have been around for approximately over one hundred years.

"Is what you are saying true, Izuku? About you and your mother?" All For One asked.

Midoriya nodded.

"Then consider your problem solved," All For One said.

Midoriya's heart sank.

"Wh-What do you mean?"

"Your job will be a simple one. Deliver a briefcase to one of my other associates. In turn, she will hand you a briefcase filled with cash. One hundred thousand dollars. You may use that money to take care of any and all expenses that you and your mother have."

Midoriya became overwhelmed with emotion. His eyes began to water, but he wiped them away as quickly as he could.

"Thank you, All For One. Thank you so much."

* * *

Midoriya's job was simple and straightforward. In his hand was a dark black briefcase that contained a product that he was not allowed to know. He had to meet up with one of All For One's associates and at an exchange point, which was at the top level of a hotel parking garage.

So far Midoriya had been waiting for All For One's associate to appear, but whoever he or she was, they had been running late.

He was told to call them if he ran into any troubles or difficulties, would tardiness be one of them? What if this was all a set-up, and Midoriya was being used as bait? As a sacrificial lamb? However, he quickly perished the thought.

All For One was willing to reveal himself to him, and not only that, but to offer him a job and to help him and his family. Why would he go through all of that trouble just to set him up? It wouldn't make any sense.

The quirkless boy looked at his watch and sighed.

Thirty minutes and still no sign of anyone.

"Oh, you must be new to the gang," A female voice cooed.

Midoriya turned and nearly jumped out of his skin. He was greeted with the smile of a school aged girl with short blonde hair wearing an eye patch over her left eye. She gave Midoriya a sweet smile and crowded his personal space, which in turn made his face glow bright red in embarrassment.

"Y-Y-Yes!" He gave her a nervous nod. He didn't know if he should give her his real name, or an alias. Well, scratch that. Giving out his real name would be a terrible idea.

"I-I'm Deku," He said. That was the first name that came up in his head. He almost wanted to smack himself. Of all the different aliases and names to use, the only one that he could come up with was one that his childhood bully coined for him?

The girl busted out into a fit of laughter while holding her stomach. After a moment she wiped away a tear from her eye and regained her composure.

"Deku huh? That's pretty funny," She quipped. She then reached her hand out to ruffle Midoriya's hair.

"You're cute, what a shame," She said in a sullen voice.

Midoriya was confused as to what she was alluding to. Was she saying that it was a shame that he had to turn to shady activities in order to get by? If so then she wasn't the only one that held that sentiment.

He never thought that in a million years that he would have to resort to...less than reputable activities to say the least. But he had no other choice. His mom was stressed out, and his dad wasn't any help. He had to step up. He had to do something.

"Uhm…" Midoriya held up the briefcase.

The girl gave a devious smile and snapped her fingers. Instantly a half dozen of her goons appeared from behind the pillars of the parking lot. Were they there the entire time? How come he didn't notice them? How _couldn't _he notice them?

One of her cronies carried a silver briefcase which held what Midoriya believed to have been the payment.

The large burly man garbed in a black suit handed the briefcase to his boss, being the girl, who in turn handed it to Midoriya and he handed over his briefcase to her. Midoriya then looked up at her and smiled.

"Pleasure doing business with you, miss-"

"Bee, Queen Bee," She started. She then took a step closer and to whisper into his ear. "But you can call me Kuin."

After she took a step back she smiled down at the briefcase and patted it.

"Do you know what's in here, Deku?" She asked him.

Midoriya shook his head.

"It's a drug that can boost the strength and effectiveness of someone's quirk at the cost of their sanity," She explained.

Midoriya gulped. He didn't like the sound of that. He was now party to drug trafficking. If he were to get caught then-

Suddenly sirens blared throughout the parking garage as the worst came to pass.

The police were on to them.


	10. Born Again Arc - V

Kuin summoned a swarm of bees from her eyepatch and her goons readied their guns. She turned to look at Midoriya who began to cower in fear while clutching his silver briefcase against his chest.

"What's the matter with you!? Use your quirk!" She spat at him.

Midoriya was taken aback by her sudden shift in tone. Before she seemed nice, almost bubbly. But now she was different. Her face was twisted with rage as the cops began to surround them in their patrol cars.

"I-I don't have one!" Midoriya shouted back at her, raising his voice over the sound of the blaring sirens.

Queen Bee scoffed and motioned for one of her goons to toss a gun to Midoriya. He dropped the briefcase and caught it, but he was shaking still. He never thought that he would ever have to shoot a gun, at least not before he joined the Police Academy. But now he was going to apart of a shootout against the police themselves!

"We have you surrounded!" A cop yelled as he pointed his gun at the gang of criminals. His partners did the same as they shieded themselves behind their cars, only their faces, arms, hands and guns were visible over the hood of their police cars.

Midoriya's eyes grew wide. He recognized the cop. It was Detective Tsukauchi. However, it seemed that the detective hadn't noticed him since the boy quickly turned away.

"Surrender or we will be forced to use lethal force!"

Kuin smirked a toothy grin and ordered her bees to attack. They swarmed around the cops to distract them while her goons began to open fire indiscriminately.

Not wanting to get caught in the crossfire, Midoriya took shelter behind one of the pillars of the parking garage.

All he could think in that moment were all of his decisions that lead him up to this one single moment. Technically, this all happened because he got shot, right? Because if he had never gotten shot, then he would not have been in the hospital, and he would not have met All For One, and he would not have been offered this job!

Or better yet, perhaps it was his dad's fault for not responding to his mom, keeping her in the dark and having his family on the edge of eviction!

Hell, maybe if he had a Quirk, then he wouldn't have gotten shot in the first place!

He could go around in circles all day if he wanted to, but right now he had a decision to make.

"Aaaagh!" He heard Queen Bee shout out in pain. He peaked around the corner to see blood drip from her eye and a few of her bees had gotten shot by the police.

Midoriya looked down at his gun as well at his briefcase and gulped.

He would risk everything for his mother. No questions asked. He would risk his future, and he would risk his life without a second thought. Everything that he had done up until this point he had done for her. Now he was put into a position where she could be taken care of for the rest of her life, whether his dad was in the picture or not.

Midoriya had to do it.

He rushed out from behind the pillar with his gun in hand. He had seen Snipe shoot a dozen times over. How hard could it be?

The quirkless boy turned criminal grabbed Kuin and dragged her to safety behind one of the pillars.

When the Detective saw his protege, Midoriya, run out from behind the pillar he immediately shouted for his men to stop firing.

"Stop firing! Stop!" The Detective ordered. Just what in the world was going on here?! Where did Midoriya come from? Was he being held hostage? Was he forced to work with them against his will? That would be the only explanation that made any sense to him.

One of the cops readied another shot but the Detective placed his hand on the cop's arm.

"Don't fire! They have a school student with them!" The detective shouted.

Midoriya attempted to fire back a shot at one of the police officers just to scare him, but the recoil caused him to miss badly. He heard his bullet ricochet off of the top of the parking garage.

The Detective frowned at first at Midoriya's actions, but he then realized that the quirkless boy was more than likely being used or held hostage. How or why, he could not say, but Tsukauchi was confident enough to know that Izuku wouldn't want to hurt a fly, let alone a cop. So he reasoned that he had to make it appear as if that he was doing something so that they wouldn't kill him on the spot for "leading" the cops to them.

"Take out the goons but don't shoot at the boy! He's on our side!" The Detective ordered.

While Queen Bee's goons continued the fire fight Midoriya tended to Queen Bee and handed her the silver briefcase which held the payment inside.

"Please, I have a favor to ask of you," Midoriya began to say as he used his shirt to wipe away the blood from her eye.

"I took this job because I needed the money for my mother. My dad works abroad and he suddenly stopped responding to her calls. Now we are on the verge of eviction, but this briefcase had enough money in it to ensure that she will never have to worry about it ever again."

Kuin couldn't help but notice his choice of words.

"Enough money to ensure that _she _will never have to worry about it?"

Midoriya nodded and gave her a half-hearted smile.

"Yes, I'm going to take the fall for you. I will create a diversion while you escape," Midoriya said.

Kuin perked a brow.

"And how will you do that?"

Midoriya turned his gun over to her.

"Take me hostage, I will pretend as if you put me up to it. When I shot at them, I missed completely. One of the cops out there is my mentor, Detective Tsukauchi. Right now he's probably thinking that I missed on purpose, or that the only reason I fired the shot was to make it look like I was on your side so that you and your goons wouldn't kill me," Midoriya began to say.

Queen Been's eyes grew wide with shock, which caused Midoriya to give her a sheepish grin.

"It-It's a long story," He said. "But he trusts me, and we can use that against him."

Queen Bee grabbed the gun and held it against the boy's head.

"I like the way you think," She said. "It's a shame that I had orders to betray you, but it's funny how things work out in the end."

"Huh?!"

Queen Bee tossed the silver briefcase across the parking garage to one of her cronies who grabbed it in mid air. She then tossed the black briefcase to another one of her goons who grabbed it as well.

"Okay, show time!" The crime boss said with a fiendish smile.

She appeared from behind the pillar with her arm around Midoriya's neck and her gun pointed to his head.

"Stop shooting!" Detective Tsukauchi ordered. And just as he commanded, the shooting on both sides stopped.

"Let's talk," Queen Bee began to say as she took a step forward.

"What do you want?" The Detective asked darkly.

"One of your cars to go please," She said sweetly.

The Detective gave her an impassive expression, indicating that he wouldn't take her request seriously.

Midoriya used the opportunity to use his free hand that was down by his side to tap Kuin's thigh. This got her attention, and when she looked down at him she saw him motion to his arm. At first she didn't understand what he was trying to say, but then she quickly picked up on his signal.

"We know how much this boy means to you, Detective," She began to say as she pointed her gun at Midoriya's arm and shot him.

The boy yelled out in agonizing pain and in retaliation several cops pointed their guns at her. However, Queen Bee pointed her gun back at the quirkless boy's head and waved her finger at them.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you. I can decorate this garage with this boy's brains before any of you can get to me. Would you want that on your conscience?"

The Detective clenched his fist and signaled for the remainder of his cops to stand down. Afterward, he motioned for his partners to clear a path for Queen Bee as well as her goons to walk toward one of their patrol cars.

However, Midoriya noticed that the Detective gave a signal for another one of the cops to take a shot. Although he already had it in his mind to distract them, it seemed that he would truly have to out himself. He was in a lot of pain due to his gunshot wound which he clutched onto, but he figured that he could still manage to warn her and her goons to get out of dodge.

As soon as Queen Bee turned her back, Midoriya freed himself from her grasp and shoved her toward the car with his shoulder.

"Move! Get out of here!" He shouted as the cop that was supposed to take the shot missed entirely.

Kuin quickly hopped into the driver's seat of the car and her goons piled inside of it with the two briefcases. When the Detective ordered them to open fire Midoriya stood in front of them with his arms spread out.

This move bought her enough time to drive out of harm's way.

Detective Tsukauchi narrowed his eyes at Midoriya.

"What are you doing?!" He questioned him. Just the other day he and Midoriya were training together. The boy was eager to join the Police Academy and to protect and serve innocent civilians. But now here he was, protecting wanted criminals who flooded drugs onto the streets. It didn't make any sense. What changed in such a short amount of time?

Midoriya remained resolute. All he could do was mouth the words, "I'm sorry."

Exasperated, the Detective motioned for one of the cops to place handcuffs on Midoriya.

Then, Midoriya heard six words that he never thought he'd hear in a million years.

"Izuku Midoriya, you are under arrest."


	11. Born Again Arc - VI

Handcuffed.

In the back of a cop car.

Headed to the police station.

If he was told even a week ago that he would be in this situation, that it was inevitable, he would be a nervous wreck. He would freak out, become a recluse, and probably do everything in his power to stay out of trouble so that it _wouldn't _happen.

Yet, here he was.

Handcuffed.

In the back of a cop car.

Headed to the police station.

And he was at peace with himself.

Why?

Well, at least he knew for sure that his mother would be taken care of while he was in the juvenile detention center for however long before then serving his prison sentence. His dad failed to step up, but that didn't mean that he couldn't. He had no choice. He had to pull the trigger so to speak.

The ride to the station was uneventful for the most part. Despite the fact that Detective Tsukauchi was the one driving him, he didn't say anything. Perhaps he wanted to hold all of his questions for the interrogation. Standard procedure no doubt.

Wait, wasn't he entitled to a phone call? What his mother say? What would she think? What would she _do_?

He never once considered in her feelings in all of this. Would she able to handle her child being a criminal? The shame? The guilt for having raised him? The loneliness? Maybe he made the wrong decision after all….

He quickly shook his head. No, the alternative was being put out of his home with his mother and having no where else to go. He was sure that he had made the right choice. He chose the lesser of two evils. Besides, he would have a better gauge of his mother's reaction when it was time for him to call her.

Midoriya was taken out of the car at the station by two police escorts on both side of him. Even walking with handcuffs felt wrong. They felt heavy, they weighed him down. His hands being linked behind his back was also rather uncomfortable as well.

After he was guided through the police station doors he was turned over to one of the officers inside. The officer uncuffed Midoriya and guided him to a room with a phone on the wall.

"One phone call. Five minutes," Was all that the officer said.

Midoriya picked up the phone and immediately dialed his mother. It rang a couple of times, and then a couple more. Finally she picked up.

"Hello?" He heard her voice on the other end.

Midoriya gulped. His knees buckled. His chest became tight.

This was going to be harder than he thought.

"Hi mom, it's me…" Midoriya's voice trailed off weakly.

"Izuku honey!" His mother exclaimed. He heard the relief, and normally it would mean a good thing. But unfortunately, this time it wasn't. He was about to break his mother's heart, and that caused tears to well up in his eyes.

"I'm glad that you're okay! I looked everywhere for you! I even called the police! Where are you?!"

"Mom, I'm sorry!" He began to say. "I'm so sorry! I had to do it! I did it for you! For us!"

"What are you saying honey?! What's wrong?!" She questioned. She was at a complete and utter loss. What was he talking about?

"I know about what's been going on," Midoriya began to say, his voice as quiet as a whisper. "I looked through your phone mom, but it's okay I took care of it. Okay? I took care of it. But I had to do something really bad…"

There was a brief pause on the other end before his mom spoke once more. Her breaths were heavy and ragged, almost as if she was hyperventilating.

"Wh-What do you mean dear? Izuku please don't tell me…."

A tear streamed down his cheek.

Yes, this would be a lot harder than he thought.

His body began to shake, but he tried to clench his fists to steady himself. He had to tell her the truth. He didn't have long to speak, and it was now or never.

"I took a job, a _bad_ job. I am at the police station for getting caught. I've been arrested mom…."

His mom burst into untrollable sobs on the phone. It broke his heart. He almost wanted to break down right then and there with her.

However, before he could say another word, he heard the dial tone on the other end.

"Your time is up," The officer said as he took a step forward and placed the cord phone back onto the receiver.

Midoriya shook his head and wiped the tears from his eyes to straighten himself up. Afterward he turned to the police officer who escorted him to the interrogation room.

There, the officer motioned for Midoriya to take a seat in a chair.

The boy gulped as he sat down and the officer proceeded to walk out of the room, shutting the door behind himself.

Midoriya placed his head face down on the table and groaned. He had really done it. He decided to take the fall for criminals, and now his future was over. Done. He would go to a juvenile detention center and afterward when he came of age, he would go to prison for a very long time.

Hearing his mom break down like that made him question everything that he had done. He just wanted to help the best way that he could. If _only _he hadn't been caught'. If _only _he could have gotten away with the money….

No. That's how criminals think isn't it? They blame others for decisions that _they _make right? But what other choice did he have? What were his options? Ask the police to spot him a few thousand dollars?

The door suddenly opened up which caused Midoriya to raise his head. In came Detective Tsukauchi with a displeased look plastered on his visage. He pulled up a chair and took a seat directly in front of his protege - well, his _former _protege turned criminal.

There was a pause.

They stared at each other.

No words were exchanged.

Finally, the detective broke the silence.

"Why?" He asked in a pained voice.

Midoriya's gaze turned downward.

"I had to," He responded.

The detective leaned in and gave the quirkless boy an intense glare.

"Do you have _any _idea what you have done?" He asked. It was a rhetorical question, but he didn't know that Midoriya _knew _what was in the briefcase. He assumed that he picked up the job from someone else and went in blind for the money.

"You allowed a crime lord that is flooding the city with a dangerous drug to escape police custody!" He exclaimed.

Midoriya flinched. He had never heard Detective Tsukauchi raise his voice before.

"And for what?! Why would you willingly commit a crime like that?!" Midoriya still hadn't explained himself to the detective.

"I needed the money," Midoriya began to say, his voice as low as a whisper. "My dad sends money from overseas to my mom to pay the bills, but one day he suddenly stopped responding. We were going to be evicted in a week. I had to do something-"

"You had to commit a crime?!" Detective Tsukauchi snapped. "Why didn't you come to me, Izuku? Why didn't you let me help you?!"

Midoriya gritted his teeth. "And how could you have helped?!" He fired back at him. "Were you going to spot me a few thousand dollars?!"

"It's called a _loan_, Izuku!" The Detective gave an exasperated sigh. "I could have pulled some strings and gotten your mother a loan. Or I could have asked the Academy to help cover you and your mother. Do you really think that we would let one of our future cadets get evicted?!"

"We could have helped you. _I _could have helped you."

Midoriya placed his hand over his abdomen where his gunshot wound was.

"You mean like how you helped me from getting shot?"

Midoriya's words hung in the air, and his statement stunned his mentor. He immediately regretted what he had just said, and Midoriya's expression turned apologetic.

"I-" Midoriya tried to speak but the Detective cut him off.

"If someone dies because of your decision to allow a criminal to peddle more drugs onto the streets then that's different right? Because that's on _you,_" He pointed at his former protege.

"But if you would have died in that shootout," Detective Tsukauchi paused to take a breath. Just imagining the scenario in his mind made him uncomfortable.

"Then that would have been on me."

Midoriya's eyes began to water as the weight of his decision finally took hold of him. How could he have been so stupid?! He _did _have other options and he blew it! He didn't consider going to the police for help because why, they failed him _one _time? The head detective of the police force was his mentor for crying out loud! He had connections! He could have pulled some strings! Why didn't he think of that before?!

"I-I'm sorry-"

"Sorry doesn't cut it," The detective said.

"Please," Tears began to stream down Midoriya's cheeks. "Please I didn't know that you could have helped me, I just wanted to help my mom! Please I'll-"

"Here's what you're facing," The detective began to say.

"Drug trafficking, that's ten years to _life. _Conspiracy to sell an uncontrolled substance. That's _another_ ten years to _life_."

Midoriya began to shake his head back and forth.

_No._

_This can't be happening. _

"You've made your bed, Izuku. I told you before didn't I? In this world we make our own blessings. The same is true for our misfortunes. This is out of my hands," He stood up from his chair and turned to walk out of the room.

"Please!" Midoriya called out to him. "Please there has to be something that I can do!"

The detective opened the door.

"Please!"

The detective walked through the door and slammed it shut behind himself, leaving Midoriya all alone.


	12. Born Again Arc - Conclusion

Midoriya was alone. Physically, he was alone, and he felt as if he didn't have any support as well.

His mother, well, she was still missing in action. How long had it been? About four or five hours? It was approaching midnight, that much he knew, since he saw the police officers begin to change shifts once more. Occasionally he'd over hear them asking about his case, about what he did, then end it off with a shake of their head saying "what a waste."

Midoriya buried his face within his hands.

He _was _a waste.

One of the police officers seemed to have taken a special interest in him. She was a tall, blonde woman with long flowing hair and an hourglass figure. She looked too pretty to be a cop, but alas, she was one.

Whenever she would pass by his holding cell she would stare daggers at him. Her icy glare would make his skin crawl each and every time. Then, finally, when she was sure that no one was looking, she approached the cell once more and smiled devilishly at the boy.

"Hey there," She cooed to him.

Midioriya looked up at her and responded nervously.

"H-Hi," He said. His voice was low and absent of energy.

"You hungry?" She asked him as she began to unbutton her uniform.

Midoriya's cheeks became filled with red as the female officer unbuttoned just short of her cleavage and reached into her bra to pull out a premade sandwich wrapped in plastic. She then reached her arm through the gap of the bars and tossed it to him.

The boy gulped as he picked up the sandwich. It felt warm to the touch.

_Th-This was in her br-bra! _

The officer buttoned her uniform back up and motioned for him to take a bite. For a moment Midoriya wondered what the other officers were preoccupied with that distracted them for so long. But then he quickly realized that this was, in fact, the skeleton crew. So they were probably relaxing in the office, or even possibly asleep.

After the quirkless boy took the plastic wrapper off of the sandwich he took a bite out of it and when he did, he heard the female officer giggle uncontrollably.

"How does it taste?" She asked him with a devilish grin. Midoriya shrank underneath her sharp, piercing gaze.

"I-It tastes good," He said to her with a shaky voice. It was an egg sandwich, which wasn't his favorite but he was so hungry that almost anything would do. After he finished his sandwich he saw the officer's grin grow even wider. She reached onto her belt and pulled out a key and placed it in the hold cell's keyhole. When she opened the cell door Midoriya instinctively scooted further back against the wall until he couldn't do so anymore.

"Don't worry," The female officer began to say as she closed the cell door behind herself and strutted towards him.

"I won't hurt you, _bad boy_."

Midoriya's eyes grew wide when she squatted down eye level to him.

Only one other person called him that.

"T-T-Toga?!" He exclaimed.

Her hand caressed his cheek gently as she gave him a wide, toothy grin, exposing her unusually sharp canine teeth.

"It's me Izuku, in the flesh," Her body began to practically melt as her true form revealed itself to him. It always amazed him how downright convincing her disguises were. Everything from her height, to her shape, and even down to her voice inflexion was all so remarkably different that it was virtually impossible to ever suspect her. This however, couldn't be done without extensive research of whom she was disguising herself as.

"Wh-What are you doing here?!" He sputtered. This was bad. What if they were caught?

"I came here for you silly," She said as she straddled his lap. Suddenly, Midoriya heard the blood curdling cry of a male officer.

"Wh-What was that?!" Midoriya sputtered, but Toga placed both of her hands on his face and stared directly into his eyes.

"It's a beautiful sound, right?" Midoriya heard another blood curdling cry. He wish that he could see what was going on, but Toga forced his gaze to stay fixated onto her.

"Right?!" She leaned in closer to him. He could feel her warm breath tickle his nose. Her breathing began to escalate as she rubbed her thumb against the quirkless boy's lower lip, sending shivers down his spine.

His face was a twisted blend of astonishment at Toga's touch and horror at the continued dying cries of the men and women of the boys in blue.

From the other room he could hear his former mentor, Detective Tsukauchi, attempt to radio for back-up.

"_This is Detective Tsukauchi! Requesting immediate-" _

Midoriya's eyes turned wide with shock.

_No. _

He didn't want him to die. He didn't want _any _of them to die. Why was this happening? Why did this _have _to happen?

He heard a scream, then he heard silence. Ironically, it was the silence that resonated the loudest.

His mentor, the person who had helped trained him for the past several months to enter the Police Academy…

Was dead.

And it was all his fault.

Midoriya's visage turned lifeless, and his eyes which once glistened with child-like jubilance and optimism shifted to a dark and listless undertone. His irises had darkened right before Toga's eyes.

_Am I in hell? _

He thought to himself.

"That's a nice expression," Toga cooed to him. She knew how much the detective meant to him, and to see the despair plastered all over his face after he heard his mentor's dying words - it was pure ecstasy!

She continued to hold his face towards hers as her breathing reached a fevered pitch. This was bad. There was so much that she wanted to _do _to him right him. She couldn't hold herself back any longer. Her face leaned in ever so slightly until her forehead rested against his. Midoriya at first didn't seem to regard her, but a slight upward tilt of his head proved that he had acknowledged her presence nonetheless.

Smoke began to fill the vicinity as a shadowy figure came into view. Blue flames flickered around him as he called out to both Midoriya and Toga. From his vantage point, it appeared that the two were lip locking, but he couldn't tell for sure.

"Are you two lovebirds finished?" He asked in a casual, deadpan tone of voice.

Toga turned to regard Dabi by puffing her cheeks out in a pout.

"Aww, we were just getting to the best part too," She whined as she stood up and reached her hand out to Midoriya.

"Come on _bad boy_, let's go," She said to him.

For a brief moment Midoriya didn't respond, nor move. However his empty gaze rested on Toga as he took her hand in his and stood up to his feet. His head however, was tilted downward and his expression was unreadable.

"What's the matter with him?" Dabi asked.

"Oh nothing, he's just been through a lot," She said as she turned to rub her finger up and down his cheek sensually. "Isn't that right?"

Midoriya did not respond.

From behind Dabi suddenly appeared Twice with his tape measure attached on his wrists.

"Please, step aside Toga!"

"Move outta the way!"

He made both statements almost simultaneously.

Toga did not protest as she stepped to the side, allowing for Twice to quickly gain all of Midoriya's body measurements. Afterwards he managed to generate a clone of Midoriya with his exact same appearance and dimensions.

Despite this, Midoriya still did not show a hint of astonishment, surprise, or emotion at all.

Dabi summoned a ball of torrential blue flame which enveloped the clone completely until there was nothing left but cinders and ash. With that done he turned to regard Twice, Toga, and Midoriya.

"I'll finish things up here before more cops arrive," He said.

Toga nodded and proceeded to lead Midoriya out of the cell and towards the exit with his hand in hers. Twice followed closely behind them both.

Their getaway car was a stolen police vehicle driven by Kuin, also known as Queen Bee. Once inside Kuin took note of Midoriya's blank expression.

"What's the matter with him?" She asked.

Toga wrapped her arms around Midoriya's arm and leaned her head against his shoulder.

"He's just had a long day, haven't you _bad boy_?" She said to him sweetly.

Kuin frowned. She had information that was going to make his day a hell of a lot worse.

"Hey, Izuku," Toga began to speak excitedly. "Do you want to know what our plan was to bust you out?"

Midoriya didn't respond, but his gaze shifted ever so slightly toward her direction.

"We waited until midnight for the graveyard shift to arrive. That's when they have the least amount of cops you know? Then I disguised myself as a police officer and got the key to the holding cell. Then Dabi showed up and turned all of the cops to ash! Even the head detective!"

Midoriya's right eye winced when she mentioned Detective Tsukauchi's death. This reaction caused her to smile.

"But do you want to know the best part? We used Twice to create a clone of you so that Dabi could burn it to ash. That way when he's done burning the whole place down, they'll think that you died in the fire as well! Isn't that great?!"

Midoriya didn't respond.

"I think he's brain dead!"

"Good riddance!"

Twice made both comments thanks to his split personality.

* * *

Kuin continued to drive back until she finally reached the League of Villain's dive bar headquarters. Toga walked Midoriya out and waved goodbye to Kuin as she drove away.

Once Toga entered the hideout along with Midoriya and Twice in tow, she was surprised to find that Dabi had beaten them back to the base.

"Took you long enough," He said.

Toga smiled from ear to ear. "We took the scenic route."

Tomura sat at the bar and narrowed his eyes at Midoriya, who again, remained unresponsive.

"The boss wants to speak to him in private," Tomura said. "But it seems like it will be a one-sided conversation."

Kurogiri snapped his fingers and generated a dark portal that sucked Midoriya in the void. The quirkless boy suddenly reappeared in a pitch black room with minimal lighting, saved for a single ceiling light which illuminated All For One's frame as he sat in a chair. His face was covered in his mask, but his body appeared to have been hooked up to several medical devices.

Midoriya stood with an apathetic expression, though a hint of curiosity was present.

"Ah, I see that my team managed to free you," All For One began to say.

Midoriya didn't respond.

"I am saddened to hear that you lost a mentor of yours during the escape. That is most unfortunate. Please believe me when I say that it was not my intention for him to perish,"

Suddenly, realization hit the boy.

"How did you know that he was my mentor?"

"There is nothing about you that I do not know, Izuku Midoriya," All For One responded.

Midoriya thought that was impossible, but he remembered that his name was in his Hero Analysis notebook. A man with All For One's connections could easily learn as much as he wanted about him since he knew his full name.

And since he also knew about the issues that he had at home-

Speaking of which….

"Uhm," Midoriya looked down and twiddled his thumbs.

"Is my mom okay?" He asked him. "Did she receive the money?"

There was a brief pause, but it was long enough to make Midoriya feel uncomfortable.

"I regret to inform you that I have some disturbing news," All For One began to say. Midoriya's eyes grew wide as he attempted to brace himself.

"When my associate, Kuin, who you know as Queen Bee, attempted to deliver the briefcase of money to your mother's doorstep, she found the door unlocked and your mother unconscious on the ground, unresponsive."

Midoriya's eyes grew even wider.

"Wh-What…?"

"There was a note on the kitchen counter, detailing how she lost the only two people in the world who mattered to her the most, and that she didn't want to continue living."

Midoriya dropped to his knees.

_No. _

"Your mother attempted to take her own life by overdosing on medication. She is currently hospitalized and receiving treatment in the psychiatric ward."

_No. _

_This can't be happening. _

"I'm in hell, aren't I?" Midoriya asked rhetorically.

All For One did not say anything.

Midoriya just wanted to do the right thing.

That was all.

His dad stopped responding to his mother's calls and texts, he stopped sending her money, and because of that one of his mother's checks bounced. So Midoriya had barely any time to come up with enough money to cover the mortgage his dad was able to get ahold of him and his mom again. He had no choice, he _had _to get All For One's help.

He then gets caught up in a shootout and decides to put his mother's wellbeing above his own. He'll face time in jail and prison to ensure that she never had to go another day worrying about money. But then he gets sprang out of his holding cell thanks to All For One, but his mentor gets burned to ash in the process.

And to top it all off, his actions contributed to driving his mother to attempt suicide.

"I'm dreaming," Midoriya's expression was blank. Everything was so...surreal. Nothing _felt _real. The world as it was seemed…unfamiliar.

Why do good things happen to bad people?

Why was life such a sick joke?

Yes, a joke.

A smile crept on his visage ever so slightly.

"This is a joke right?" Midoriya looked up at All For One.

Again, All For One did not say anything.

_Life, is a joke right? _

And being quirkless was the biggest punchline of all.

Midoriya stood up and regained his bearings. What's done is done right? At least he didn't have to worry about his mom being evicted. She would receive the best care in the world at the hospital, as well as three meals a day and a bed to sleep in.

So, maybe everything worked out after all?

It was funny in an ironic sense.

So funny in fact, that the thought began to make Midoriya snicker.

And then that snicker turned into a chuckle.

And then that chuckle turned into a laugh.

A full blown howl of laughter.


	13. Naruhata Arc - I

Izuku was given an official job by All For One.

He had to help Kuin with her Trigger deals by helping rid her of her largest obstacle - a group of vigilantes.

Izuku was surprised to hear that vigilantism was still abound throughout the city. Since the rise of Professional Heroes one could argue that vigilantes were useless in the grand scheme of things. However, there could also be some that would argue that since they operated outside of the law, they weren't held up by sanctions and rules as well as regulations.

Still, he wanted to help All For One reach his goal, as they both had a similar one in mind.

To create a better world.

"Why can't I help Tomura? He's planning an attack on U.A. isn't he?" Izuku asked him.

He was currently alone in the League Of Villain's headquarters and speaking with All For One through a monitor. The rest of the League was planning their attack on U.A., and instead of joining in, he was forced to help Kuin instead.

Now, he didn't have anything against helping her, but he wanted to know why it had to be him.

"I can help plan the attack, I'm the one who wrote the notebook that is filled with information on most of the Pro Hero's powers, remember?" Izuku pressed.

All For One chuckled softly, which threw Izuku off guard.

"My, my, you seem eager to spread some carnage, Izuku Midoriya," All For One quipped. "Why the sudden change?"

Izuku's expression turned downcast.

"You know why," His mind thought of his mother and his late mentor. He had failed them, and society had failed him. The only person who was there for him in his time of need were the League of Villains and All For One himself. He wanted to repay the favor.

"I owe you everything, and I want to prove myself to you," Izuku began to say as his voice began to become menacingly low.

"I owe nothing to heroes. I have nothing against them, but I have no love for them either. I am apathetic towards them now," Izuku spoke honestly. The thought of actually killing a hero was a foreign concept to him. Hell, the thought of killing anyone was. But if he masterminded the plot and didn't get involved himself, then he could have some plausible deniability.

"In some ways apathy is far more sinister than hate," All For One said sagely.

Izuku perked up at his words but said nothing.

"But what I require of you to do is something that only you can do, Izuku," All For One began to say. "If you want to prove yourself to me once and for all, then help rid Kuin of the vigilantes that are impeding our progress," All For One said.

Izuku nodded, but he then narrowed his eyes at All For One. "And what exactly does that mean? Kuin mentioned to me that she was peddling drugs called "Trigger." They make quirks stronger at the cost of the user's sanity right? So what's your end goal? To build an army?" He asked him.

"Trigger is simply the first step," All For One began to explain. "The next logical step should be clear, is it not? If we can manufacture a drug that can enhance quirks. Then-"

"Then we can create a drug that can take away quirks," Izuku finished.

"Precisely," Said All For One.

* * *

The Naruhata ward was about a couple of hours away from Tokyo by train, and approximately an hour away by car. Izuku rode with Kuin in the passenger seat of her all black sedan, staring out of the window. Occasionally Kuin would steal a glance or two at him, but she didn't say anything.

Finally, she decided to break the silence.

"How are you holding up?" She asked him.

Izuku couldn't tell if she was asking him a genuine question, or if she just wanted to make conversation.

"I'm okay," Izuku responded. His mind wandered to his mother for a brief moment. Another second passed and a smirk ever so slightly crept its way across his visage.

"You know it's funny," Izuku began to say. "I wanted the money to help my mom so that she wouldn't be evicted from her home. I didn't want her to be homeless. But now she's in the hospital, a new home! All because of me!" He snickered at his own statement.

"That's funny right?"

Kuin frowned as she focused on the road ahead.

"Hilarious," She said deadpan.

They finally arrived in Naruhata at night time. Although it was a relatively short trip, it felt longer to Izuku. Him and his mom rarely left Tokyo to go to another ward. He remembered one trip he made with his father as a kid to visit a relative.

Kuin drove the car to an apartment complex and she parked near a building. Izuku got out of the car and followed her to her door which she then unlocked and beckoned for him to enter inside.

Her apartment wasn't what he thought it would be. In his mind, Izuku imagined that Kuin lived in a dreary place with very little decor. But instead he found that her apartment was extremely neat and tidy with several childish dolls and figurines lined up against the wall.

"Welcome to your new home!" She exclaimed with her arms spread out wide. Her cheerful smile was bright and innocent and unlike how she was during the shootout in the parking garage. It made Izuku realize that she was in all actuality a young adult and less so like a vicious drug lord.

"Go ahead and make yourself at home, I'll be right back," She exclaimed as she went to her room. Izuku did just that by taking a seat on one of her bean bag chairs. A moment passed and then Kuin exited her room with three photographs in hand. She took a seat in front of Izuku and laid them all out in front of him.

"These are the three vigilantes that have been a thorn in my side," She pointed at one of the pictures - which was a picture of a female dressed akin to a pop-star idol. She wore a one-piece black leotard with a heart-shaped opening in the center of the chest and a smaller one in the back. She wore a black mask that covered her eyes and she wore her hair in pigtails.

"Her name is Pop-Step, and her quirk allows her to leap extremely high in the air," Kuin explained.

"That's it?" Izuku asked her.

"That's all I could gather," She responded.

She then pointed to the next picture.

It was a picture of a middle-aged man with brass knuckles on his fists clad in a simple wrap-around mask tied over the top of his head, a tight-fitting dark shirt, jeans, boots and a long trench coat.

"His name is Knuckleduster," Kuin began to say. "And he doesn't seem to have a quirk."

Izuku perked his brow.

"He doesn't have a quirk at all?"

Kuin shook her head.

"He's just an extremely strong, quick, and resourceful old man. But he is by far the most dangerous out of the three," Kuin explained.

She then pointed to the last and final picture, which appeared to have been a boy that wasn't much older than Izuku himself.

"This troublesome guy is called The Crawler," Kuin began to say. "He can slide across surfaces by touching it in three different places, and he can stick to walls."

"And he is an All-Might fan," Izuku added. His face held no discernable expression to be read.

"I had the same hoodie as him," He explained. "Does he wear this when he's on patrol all of the time?" Izuku asked.

"Every single time," Kuin said. "Why?"

Izuku cupped his chin in thought. "Naruhata is a small ward, there aren't a lot of retail stores around that would sell hero merchandise except for Marukane Department Store," He mused aloud.

Kuin tilted her head. "How would you know that? Have you been here before?"

Izuku shook his head. "No, but All-Might merchandise is rare to get a hold of because it's so popular. He either owns several, or he recycle one pair over and over again, which seems unlikely. Meaning that he must be getting them from somewhere. That somewhere being Marukane. It was the only department store that I saw that seemed plausible enough to sell that kind of merchandise on our way here."

"So what are you going to do, wait at the department store and hope that he shows up?" She asked.

"Not at all," He gave her a devious smirk. "But let's just say that a few of your thugs were to trash the place. Guess who would show up?"

"The Crawler," Kuin smirked as well. She leaned in closer to Izuku, her eyes glistening with bloodlust. She liked where this was headed. Izuku wanted to separate them one by one, not take them all down at once. He had only been in town for ten minutes and his he had already devised a plan to divide and conquer.

"And then what do we do?" She leaned in even more until Izuku felt her breath tickle against his nostrils. He was too enamored with his plan to notice how close she was to him.

"We have to reveal his identity first. I think that I can get close to him by pretending to be a raving All-Might fan that is then taken hostage by one of your cronies," Izuku mused aloud. Yes, all of the pieces were coming together.

"And then what?!" Kuin was so excited that she was practically bouncing up and down. She would finally be one step closer to ridding herself of one of the troublesome Naruhata Vigilantes.

"I'll improvise from there," Izuku said with a shrug.

Kuin narrowed her eyes at him. "Come on, tell me," She nudged his shoulder.

"Some things are better left done on the fly."

* * *

It was another beautiful morning in Naruhata, and Koichi Haimawari was traversing the streets, headed towards a local convenience store in order to get something to drink. He was up far earlier than he would have liked to have been, but unfortunately he wasn't able to go back to sleep. When he looked in the fridge of his penthouse and saw that he had nothing in it, he gave a defeated sigh and headed out.

While he was at the convenience store in line to purchase his drink, he overheard a commotion outside. Several people were fleeing from the direction of the Marukane Department Store. Concerned, he headed outside (but not without placing his drink back in its original place). It was there that he overheard a man scream that the Pro-Hero Collector's Store was being robbed by a group of thugs.

Police were on their way to the scene. At least, they should have been. But for whatever reason, Koichi didn't hear any sirens at all.

_I guess I have no choice, huh? _

He ran into an alleyway and took off his oversized gray hoodie, which revealed his All-Might hero costume hoodie underneath. He reached into his pocket and put on his goggles and then put his hood over his head.

_Alright, showtime! _

He got on all fours and rushed towards the department store, his body slid against the ground along the way, moving at the same pace as a bicycle. Since the police were apparently preoccupied with _something_ else entirely.

Once he made his way towards the entrance of the store, he saw a few thugs dressed in all black with ski masks armed with pistols attempt to take all of the Pro-Hero's collectible clothing inside of garbage bags.

Why were they so interested in them? Perhaps because they could fetch a high price on the black market. Well, whatever the case was, he had to stop them.

If it was a couple of years ago then he wouldn't dream of attempting to take out thugs armed with guns. But he was far more experienced now.

He could slide on all fours about as fast as a bike ...if he was holding back.

But if he wanted to, he could go much, _much _faster.

When he dropped on all fours he slid behind one of the clothing racks, out of one of the thug's field of vision. He then glided across the ground at a high speed, clipping him in his ankle and causing him to collapse. The other thugs began to open fire at him but they were unable to get a clear shot since The Crawler continued to zig zag across the store and intermittently use different clothing racks as cover.

"That's it! Enough games!" He heard a thug roar. Koichi poked his head out to see a thug hold a young, timid looking teenage boy with unruly hair around the neck. He had a gun pointed to his head.

"Come on out right now before I splatter the boy's brains all over the wall!"

The Crawler grimaced. It seemed that he didn't have much choice. He had to ensure the survival of the hostage. Perhaps he could hold out until the police arrived, but he still hadn't heard a single siren.

"Okay, you win," He began to say as he placed both of his hands up. "Just don't shoot the kid."

The teenager appeared frightened, and he couldn't blame him.

"You're a smart man. Now come over here-"

"Scrappy Thrust Style!" A repulsion beam shot out of The Crawler's hand and it collided with the thug's sternum, causing him to fly backwards and collide with the class register.

The boy quickly made a b-line towards The Crawler who grabbed his hand and touched the ground with his remaining hand and two feet.

"Hold on tight!" He shouted as he sped off with the boy in hand. The thugs attempted to open fire at him but thankfully their aim wasn't anything to write home about. The Crawler saw a few police cars finally headed towards the department store, and thus he made a sharp turn into an alleyway.

"Phew, that was a close one," The vigilante said as he let go of the boy's hand. He seemed rather nervous, as well as shocked. He couldn't blame him. The boy was apart of a scary situation.

"Uhm," The boy stammered as he twiddled his thumbs. "Thanks for saving for me. But who are you?"

The Crawler shot him a genuine smile. "Just your friendly neighborhood Crawler! What's your name?"

The teenager reached his hand out to shake that of his savior's.

"Izuku Midoriya."

* * *

**I apologize for the hiatus. Work has been busy. **

**So I decided in advance that instead of shoehorning Izuku into the main plot line as we know it, I will write him off completely by shipping him out to Naruhata to deal with the vigilantes. For those who haven't read the manga (_Vigilante - My Hero Academia: Illegals) _then this arc may contain some light spoilers at best. **

**Since this is AU, the events will be a little mixed at best compared to the canon. The events that are happening in this arc are happening simultaneously alongside the events of the canon series (so the beginning of this arc will coincide with the League Of Villains attempting to attack U.A. with the Nomus, and will ultimately end after the Hero Killer - Stain Arc but before the League Of Villains attempt to kidnap Bakugou.)**

**But that does not necessarily mean that Izuku won't interact with Stain at all. **

**Stay tuned for more!**


	14. Naruhata Arc - II

Why.

Why did he have to die?

Her brother meant everything to her.

She loved her older brother dearly in spite of their differences. Sure, they didn't see eye to eye all of the time. He had a very strict code of conduct and ethics, and she was more carefree than he'd ever be.

But still.

He was family.

And he was the best detective in Tokyo.

Now he's gone.

The building that he was in was burned to ash. All of the prisoners in holding, all of the police officers that were inside, and even Tsukauchi himself were burned to cinders.

There wasn't even a body left to recover.

But one thing _was _clear.

It was murder.

And her sole duty was to bring the killer to justice herself.

First she needed to gather more information to begin her personal investigation. Her brother never confided confidential information to her. He was too much of a straight-laced cop to do so. But she knew someone that wouldn't mind bending the rules a little.

"Hello? Is this All Might?"

"M-Makoto?!" He sounded surprised to hear from her. Perhaps he assumed that she would still be grieving her brother's death, let alone call him of all people.

"I am sorry for your loss. Your brother was a fine detective, the best that I ever saw. I still can't believe that he's gone," All Might said solemnly.

Makoto bit her lip and forced herself to smile.

"Thank you All Might. I know that you and my brother worked closely together. And that is why I am calling you."

There was a brief pause.

"What do you want to know?"

"My brother must have been investigating something big, very big. He had to have been on the cusp of a breakthrough. Did he tell you anything?"

"Hmmmm," All Might cupped his chin. "The last time I spoke with him, he said that he was concerned about the drug Trigger spilling into the streets of Tokyo. As far as I knew, the Naruhata ward had that problem."

Makoto cupped her chin as well. She knew that Crawler, Knuckleduster, and Pop-Step had been fighting diligently against the trafficking of the drug known as Trigger. But did they overlook something important? Why didn't they know about Trigger's attempted expansion into Tokyo?

As far as Makoto knew, Kuin and the Villain Factory didn't have the resources to peddle drugs to a city as large and as vast as Tokyo. If she attempted to do so, then that must mean that she had some powerful allies. Allies that would perhaps want to rid themselves of a driven detective that was right on their tail.

"Thank you, All Might," Makoto said. "I know where to begin my investigation."

* * *

"Wait, Midoriya, is it?"

"Please call me Izuku."

"Uh, right. Izuku. You said that you are being chased by Kuin's thugs because you know too much?"

The boy nodded.

Koichi had brought Izuku back to his apartment. He would feel guilty if he left him alone to fend for himself. What if he got captured? Or worse, killed? Then that would be on his conscience, and he couldn't allow that.

"So, what happened exactly?" Koichi gave Izuku a cup of tea as he sat down across from him to hear his story.

"Well, I used to pedal Trigger for money. They told me that my job would be harmless, that all I would be doing is making deliveries. But once I realized what was really going on I left," Izuku paused to gather his bearings.

"And now I'm being chased down. Not even you be safe with me. No one is…." Izuku's voice trailed off.

Koichi frowned. He never realized how nefarious Kuin was to recruit innocent high schoolers to do her dirty work for her. Just how low would the Villain Factory stoop? From drugging innocent civilians with quirks to now taking advantage of teenagers trying to find a part time job - Koichi felt sick to his stomach.

"Don't worry," Koichi placed his hand on Izuku's shoulder. "You're in safe hands. Because-"

"Because I am here!" Izuku finished for him.

Both of the boys shared a heart-filled laugh with one another.

There was suddenly a knock at the door which caught them both off guard. Koichi perked his brow as he stood up to approach the front door.

"I wonder who this could be," He said.

In the meantime Izuku decided to turn on the T.V. It was already on the news channel, which spoke about an incident in which a couple of Impromtu Villains, that is, civilians who suddenly became violent after being injected with the drug known as Trigger, had a nasty fight with the police. That explained why law enforcement weren't able to respond immediately to Kuin's thugs vandalizing the department store.

Just as Izuku had planned.

His next step was to get as close to Koichi as he could, as well as the rest of the Naruhata Vigilantes before eliminating them. He didn't come up with a plan just yet on how he would execute their demise. Killing them seemed extreme. He would have to be desperate to cross that line. Maybe he would leave the cleanup to Kuin instead.

Koichi opened the door and was surprised to find that it was a tall woman with long jet black hair wearing a black sweatshirt with dark grey slacks and heels. She looked as if she was in mourning still, as her bangs were matted against her forehead and she had a haggard expression.

"M-Makoto?!" Koichi sputtered in shock.

If he had known that she was coming over then he would have cleaned up!

"It's good to see you Koichi," She gave him a cheerful smile.

In spite of the immense amount of pain and heartache that she must have been experiencing due to her brother's sudden and tragic demise, she still managed to give him a smile. It almost brought Koichi to tears.

"I'm sorry, I never got a chance to give you my condolences. But I thought that it would be best if I gave you some space," Koichi explained.

Makoto placed her hand on his shoulder.

"It's okay. There's actually something that I want to talk to you about. May I come in?"

"Y-Yes!" Koichi eagerly stepped aside to allow Makoto to enter his apartment. Once he closed the door behind himself Makoto took off her shoes and stepped inside only to see an unfamiliar boy watching T.V. in the living room.

"Oh! Makoto this is uhm…."

"Izuku," The boy said to jog his memory.

"Right! Makoto, this is Izuku. Izuku, this is Makoto."

Izuku bowed his head to hers.

"Nice to meet you."

Makoto flashed him a smile.

"Likewise."

Koichi poured a cup of tea for Makoto and placed it on the table in the living room where Izuku sat in front of the T.V. Kochi then took a seat and beckoned for Makoto to do the same.

"So, what brings you here Makoto?"

The woman stole a glance at Izuku and frowned. She hadn't expected for Koichi to have company. What she wanted to discuss was a private matter. Unfortunately, it seemed as if she had to come back another time.

"I wanted to speak with you about a few things but, it appears that you're already busy-"

"Wait," Koichi stood up suddenly. "Is it about…." He glanced towards Izuku, who tilted his head to the side.

"Is it about the Villain Factory?"

Makoto grimaced.

"Don't worry! I was actually already discussing it with Izuku here! I saved him from a group of thugs that worked with the Villain Factory. He was coerced into working with them," Koichi explained to her.

Makoto exhaled as she took a seat in front of the table. It seemed as if she wouldn't have to come back after all.

"I have reason to believe that Kuin and the Villain Factory have begun peddling Trigger into Tokyo. That's why my brother was killed."

Koichi's eyes went wide, and Izuku perked a brow at her statement.

"W-Wait! For real?! But how did they manage to infect the city?!" Koichi was at a loss for words. Him, Knuckleduster, and Pop-Step worked tirelessly to prevent the spread of Trigger. But to hear that they had not only failed, but were indirectly responsible for Detective Tsukauchi's death due to their own blunder….

"They must have aligned themselves with some powerful allies. Allies that are a lot more cutthroat than even Kuin can be," Makoto cupped her chin.

"Uhm…" Izuku raised his hand. "Was your brother a police officer by any chance? One of the few that were caught in the fire?"

"No," Makoto corrected him.

For a moment Izuku gave a sigh of relief.

"He wasn't a police officer. He was a detective."

Izuku's eyes went wide, and all of the color drained from his visage.

Makoto took a mental note of his flushed face.

"You wouldn't happen to know anything, would you?" She scooted closer to him, placing her hand on his. "Please, if you know anything, tell me. What do you know about Detective Tsukauchi's death?"

Izuku looked away from her. "I...I don't know anything. All I know is what I've seen on the news."

Makoto narrowed her eyes at him, but she then removed his hand from her grasp and stood up suddenly.

"I see, I'm sorry for pressuring you," She said.

Izuku didn't make eye contact with her, and all the while Koichi couldn't help but feel as if there was some tension between the two of them.

"I'm sorry for disturbing you two, I will be going now," Makoto walked towards the door. But when she did so she shot a glance at Koichi who then stood up to see her out.

"Thanks for stopping by Makoto, and for letting me know about the expansion of Trigger. I'll be sure to let Knuckleduster and Pop-Step know as well. We have to double our efforts and-"

"Koichi," Makoto spoke in a hoarse whisper, cutting him off.

"That kid, Izuku, he was lying. He knows what happened to my brother."

Koichi widened his eyes. "Seriously?!" He turned to look back towards the living room only to find the boy staring at the T.V. once more. Koichi then turned his attention back towards Makoto to regard her.

"But still, maybe he has his reasons. What if he was the only survivor that was caught up in the incident?" Koichi asked, defending him.

"Then wouldn't that be even _more _suspicious?" Makoto pressed. "An entire police station burned to the ground, not witnesses except for a kid, a teenager at that, being the only survivor? Why would they let him live?"

Koichi crossed his arms and began to think. But unfortunately, he couldn't come up with a valid reason or excuse.

"I'm just saying Koichi, be careful," She placed her hand on his shoulder and then turned to walk away from him, waving goodbye in the process.

Koichi waved at her back and then proceeded to close the door. After he did so he then turned to walk towards the living room where Izuku continued to watch T.V.

Makoto told him to be careful since she caught Izuku in a lie, which had to have been when she physically touched him in order to use her Polygraph quirk. But was Izuku really untrustworthy?

Meanwhile, Izuku analyzed his conversation with Makoto while he continued to watch the news. That woman...she was Detective Tsukauchi's sister. That made her dangerous. Why? Because Detective Tsukauchi had a quirk called the Human Lie Detector. Once he touched you, he was able to deduce the truth from you. And since that was his sister, and siblings tended to share similar traits, that meant that she must have possessed a similar Quirk.

Worst case scenario would be that when she touched him, she did so in order to use her Quirk on him. Meaning that she knew the truth.

She knew that what he had said was a lie.

Thankfully, that didn't mean that she knew *why* he had lied. But still….

"Hey, Koichi," Izuku turned to him to get his attention.

"Hmm? What is it?" Koichi asked.

"What was your visitor's name again?" He asked him.

"Uh, Makoto. Why?" Koichi asked him.

Izuku pretended to be bashful. "Oh, she's pretty is all."

_Makoto Tsukauchi eh? I'll keep that in mind. _He thought.

* * *

**I apologize for the hiatus. Work again, but due to some differences I decided to leave my job. Lots of unfortunate hours for not nearly enough pay that I deserved for busting my tail day in and day out. Here's to better opportunities in the future. **

**Anyways, I hope you enjoyed the chapter! Things will begin to pick up soon I promise you. For now enjoy the build-up. **


	15. Naruhata Arc - III

Kuin had done what Izuku instructed her to do. Two Impromtu Villains terrorized a gas station several blocks from the department store where Izuku was "held" captive. The police were on the scene and quickly swarmed the area. However, there was another nuisance that was also present.

Knuckleduster.

He came from out of nowhere and bashed one of her pets in his face. The tall, lumbering, towering lackey turned villain was felled by a single strike. Then her other lackey was also struck down and made quick work of by the bandana wearing vigilante.

Although Kuin was a tad bit disappointed by how quickly her henchmen were brought down, she couldn't be surprised. Trigger worked well with people who had at least somewhat useful Quirks. Unfortunately her two pets were a little lackluster in that regard. One had a Quirk to see further than the average man (approximately 500 yards), and the other one was born with a Quirk that gave him webbed feet.

Still, they served their purpose.

On her way back to her apartment her cell phone rang. When she checked the caller I.D. she saw that it was none other than her partner in crime "Deku", as he now liked to call himself.

"Hello!" Kuin answered excitedly. She wanted to know what juicy information he got out of "The Crawler."

"Kuin, I'll meet you back at your apartment. There's something that I need to discuss with you."

"Oh? Do tell," She was very interested in what he had to say.

"I'll explain more at your apartment," Deku then disconnected their call.

It didn't take Kuin long to make it back to her apartment. After she parked her car in her designated parking spot she made her way to her front door. To her dismay, the door was already unlocked. Suspicious, she stepped inside and prepared one of her bees to sting the would be intruder, only to be greeted by the sight of Izuku preparing herbal tea.

"Hi!" He gave her an innocent wave and a smile.

Kuin called her bee back and gave the quirkless boy an incredulous look.

"How did you beat me here? And how did you get in without a key?" She asked him.

Izuku began to pour the tea that he made into a cup for her to drink. "I picked the lock, and I got a ride from 'The Crawler'."

"What did you say?!" Kuin snapped at him, but Izuku quickly raised his hand to calm her down.

"He doesn't suspect anything," He began to approach her with the cup of tea in hand. He then handed it to her and she graciously accepted it in spite of her prior outburst.

"He trusts me completely! I know his name, and I even know where he lives. In fact," Izuku flashed her a wide grin. "I've even been inside of his apartment!"

Kuin wanted to jump on him. In fact, she nearly did. Instead however, she ran her hand through the boy's unruly emerald green hair. The sensation felt very pleasant to him. Kuin began to work her hand towards the back of his neck and sensually petted the bottom of his chin like one would a cat.

"Good boy," She cooed. "You're a _very _good boy. Now all we have to do is kill him right?"

Izuku snapped out of his stupor and gently guided Kuin's hand away from his chin. The matter of removing him was exactly what he wanted to discuss.

"Well, it won't be that easy," Izuku began to explain, much to the drug lord's chagrin. "Did you know that Detective Tsukauchi had a sister?"

Kuin plopped herself down on top of one of her bean bag chairs and nodded at him nonchalantly. "Yea, what about her?"

"I met her at 'The Crawler's' apartment," Izuku said.

The female drug lord motioned for him to get to the point. "And?"

"She _knows_," Izuku said. "When she touched me she asked me if I knew anything about her brother's death. I told her that I didn't know anything more than what I saw on the news. Afterwards she left immediately. She came by to speak to 'The Crawler' about your organization partnering up with All For One. She knows that we are connected to the police station where her brother worked in burned down."

Kuin finished the rest of her tea and sat her cup down onto the coffee table. "What does her touching you have anything to do with her knowing that you lied?"

"Oh, that's right, you didn't know did you?"

Kuin perked a brow. "Know what?"

"Detective Tsukauchi had a Quirk. He could tell if someone was lying or not by touching them and asking them a question. However, he rarely used it since a confession by Quirk wouldn't be admissible in a court of law. He always needed to obtain cold hard evidence first," Izuku explained.

"And as you know, siblings have a tendency of having Quirks that share similar traits. Meaning that his sister must possess a Quirk that operates similarly. She might not know _why _I lied, but she might know that I _did _lie," Izuku surmised.

"What do you suggest that we do about it?" Kuin asked. She had an idea in mind, and it was a simple one. Why not just eliminate her and get it over with? They couldn't afford to let her expose them.

Izuku gave a deep and sorrowful sigh. He never knew that he would say this but….

"We have to eliminate her."

Kuin smiled at him fiendishly. Now he was speaking her language!


	16. Naruhata Arc - IV

Koichi had passed on all of the information that Izuku had given him to his two comrades Knuckleduster and Pop-Step. They were just as shocked as he was to learn that the Villain Factory had partnered with another powerful villainous organization in order to expand the reach of Trigger. They had to decide with what they wanted to do with the information that they were given and plan their next move.

The death of Makoto's brother was unfortunate to say the least. From what she had told him, he was a fine detective indeed. He was the best of the best, and it was unlike the Villain Factory to make such bold and brash moves such as murdering a detective and burning down a police station. Their new "friends" that they had made were dangerous and they had to be stopped.

It was with this in mind that Koichi decided to set up a meeting with both of his partners in arms at his apartment. Pop-Step was the first to arrive and he greeted her with a warm smile as he ushered her inside.

"Thanks for coming on such short notice, Kazuho," Koichi said to her. She was dressed in a baggy schoolgirl uniform. Her hair was messy, wild and untamed, and her glasses were thick and uncomplimentary to say the least. For all intents and purposes she looked like the complete antithesis of her Pop-Step identity, but that was the point.

She didn't say a word as she walked inside and took a seat in the living room. Koichi took a seat as well and for a few minutes there were no words exchanged between them. It was awkward to say the least, but Koichi figured that she was still reeling over the information that he had shared with them.

That was, until she finally spoke.

"He's late," She said.

Koichi blinked for a moment. Then he realized that she was talking about Knuckleduster.

"Yea…" His voice trailed off.

But then, suddenly, there was a knock on the door.

Then another knock.

And before Koichi could stand up, his front door was knocked off its hinges.

"Ah! My door!" He exclaimed in shock as he attempted to pick it back up. The man who knocked his front door back was a towering, heavily muscled man dressed in a business suit with a scruffy face and a prominent scar on his left cheek.

"I have news!" The man roared as he ran inside to the living room.

Kazuho groaned. "You're noisy, Iwao, be quiet.

Koichi propped his front door against the gap that it was supposed to fill. Unfortunately it was shoddy work at best, but it would do for the moment. He bowed his head in sadness as he thought about the hassle that he would have to go through in order to get maintenance to fix it.

But, that was to be expected when one invited the vigilante Knuckleduster over to their place.

Koichi returned to the living room and took a seat. Iwao remaining standing and Kazuho sat across from Koichi with an annoyed look on her face.

"So, what's the big news?" Koichi asked.

Iwao blinked, then he grinned sheepishly. "News? Oh! I meant to say that I have some information on the Villain Factory."

Koichi and Kazuho were both all ears.

"Well, the other day I happened to have ran into a couple of Impromptu Villains. And when you told me your story Koichi, I managed to connect the dots," Iwao explained.

"What do you mean?" Koichi asked him.

"I think the boy that you met, Izuku, might be the key to understanding everything that is going on. Think about it, as soon as he shows up, Kuin unleashes two Impromptu Villains in the middle of the street, causing a massive firefight. Then at the same time, the boy, Izuku, was about to be held captive or worse before you rescued him. It can't be a coincidence," Iwao said as he placed his hand on his chin.

Koichi had to hand it to him. Knuckleduster was a lot brighter than he had thought and he never ceased to amaze him. Many years of fighting crime and investigating leads meant that his deduction skills were nothing to sneeze at. Still, he wondered what he meant when he said that Izuku was the "key". Was he suspicious of him as well?

"Well, Makoto seems to think that Izuku knows more than he's letting on," Koichi said.

Kazuho and Iwao both exchanged glances at one another before Koichi continued to speak.

"She came by while he was here with me the other day as well, and she used her Quirk on him. I forgot what she asked him, but she told me that he had lied about the police station incident in which her brother died at," Koichi said albeit with a somewhat somber tone.

He couldn't wrap his head around why Izuku would lie. Wasn't he in danger? If so then why did he refuse to lay low at his apartment for awhile? Koichi wouldn't have minded having him around. They bonded over their love for All Might, and he could sense that maybe the Quirkless teenager wanted to get involved with being a police officer, or maybe even a Pro Hero. They were both alike in a lot of ways and he hadn't known him for more than a day.

"If he knows more than he's letting on, then maybe he was there when it happened," Iwao said.

"Yea, that's what I thought too," Koichi agreed with a nod of his head.

Kazuho cupped her chin. "But if he was all the way in Tokyo where the incident took place, then why would he come all the way to Naruhata?"

"Maybe it was to escape whoever was chasing him," Koichi said in Izuku's defense.

"Yes, but why _here_?" She emphasized.

All Koichi could do was shrug at her question. "Maybe it was a random decision."

"Regardless of why he showed up here, we have to get to the bottom of this before anyone else gets hurt. The people that are after him are bad news and won't stop at nothing to obtain their goals, whatever they may be. We need to double our efforts!" Iwao exclaimed with a clenched fist.

Both Koichi and Kazuho nodded their heads in agreement.


	17. Naruhata Arc - V

Makoto wracked her brain for the majority of the day trying to figure out the motives of the young teenage boy that she had met at Koichi's apartment place. He had lied, that much was sure. Quirk or not, she could tell by his facial expression when she told him that she was Naomasa Tsukauichi's sister. Her Quirk only confirmed her suspicions to be true.

If he knew the truth then why wouldn't he tell her? Was he trying to protect her from the people that were after him? That was possible, but if he knew that Koichi was 'The Crawler' then he should have trusted in him to protect him from any threats that were to come for him. Still, she knew that men were prideful - her brother was a prime example of a prideful man.

_I miss him…_

She shook her head as her thoughts turned somber. This wasn't the time for her to feel sorry for herself. Maybe a break was what she needed to clear her head and get back to investigating her dear brother's death.

It was already evening yet Makoto felt that the best thing that she needed was some caffeine in her system so that she could continue her investigation.

She decided to enter a coffee shop that was across the street from her home. Inside she saw a boy in line with unruly emerald green hair dressed in a solid black button-up shirt with jeans and tennis shoes on.

Apparently he was having issues paying for his coffee at the front register so she stepped in to help him.

When he turned to look at her both of their eyes expressed shock to find that they had certainly met before.

It was the boy, Izuku.

He seemed alarmed to see her as well, but he quickly gave her a friendly smile after she paid for his coffee. The change that she received was a quarter and she in turn gave it to him since he seemed to need it more than she did.

"Thank you," Izuku said with a smile and a bow of his head.

"Don't mention it," Makoto replied as she paid for a coffee for herself and the two took a seat at a table near the corner of the cafe.

For the time being it was just them and the clerk since the cafe was empty of other customers.

"I'm sorry for earlier," Izuku said after he took a sip of his coffee.

"I already told you, don't mention it," She said to him once more.

"No, I mean for lying," Izuku clarified.

Makoto perked a brow at what he had said. She hadn't expected him to come clean, but maybe he realized that he was better off telling the truth. After all, a boy without enough money to pay for a cup of coffee wouldn't last long being hunted down by a criminal organization.

"I knew your brother, he was a mentor of mine. He was the best detective in Tokyo too. I trained with him because I wanted to enter the Police Academy, and he thought that I had a knack for police work," Izuku began to say.

"I also realized that since you were his sister, you two would share similar Quirks. Meaning that when you touched me, you knew that I had lied already," He said to her.

Makoto nodded her head. This boy was sharp, she had to give him that. But she had so many questions.

"You were there, weren't you? You were there when my brother died," It was part question and part accusation.

Izuku stared at his coffee mug as he answered. "I was there at the police station when the villains attacked it. I didn't see your brother die, but I heard it happen. I heard them all die."

The atmosphere turned gloomy as Makoto once more thought about her brother's final moments. How did he die? Did he die fighting? Did he try to protect his comrades until the bitter end? However, the more she reflected on this the more anguish she felt inside of her. Didn't she come here to _not _think about it?

She took a sip of her coffee, to which she noticed Izuku smile at.

"I'm sorry I didn't mean to bring down the mood. You came here to enjoy your coffee," He said.

Makoto offered him a sympathetic smile as she continued to sip on her coffee. She couldn't believe that she was so suspicious of him. He was just a teenage boy that got caught up in a tragic event. He just wanted to hang out with his mentor, her brother, at his police station, for some hands on training no doubt. She couldn't imagine the horror that he had witnessed that night. But still, that begged the question…..

"How did you escape?" Makoto asked him.

"Oh, well, you see," He turned his head for a moment and locked eyes with the clerk at the front counter. "I escaped because…."

There was a pregnant pause. Suddenly, Makoto felt as if the room was spinning. What in the world was wrong with her? She tried to stand up to gather her bearings, but she stumbled on her own feet and fell to the ground in a heap.

Dazed and confused, she locked eyes with Izuku who in turn gave her the most unsettling smile that she had ever seen. It was as if up until then all he had done was put up a facade. An act. The face that she laid eyes on now must have been who he _truly _was.

"Because I'm a villain."

* * *

**I apologize for the hiatus. I had to do pre-employment screenings for my new job and it took up most of my time. Thankfully I will be getting paid far more than I did at my previous job and the work won't be as soul crushing so cheers to that. **

**Also I decided to make this portion of the story into three separate chapters instead of one big chapter because 1) I thought it would be easier to digest and 2) Each chapter takes place at a different time of day (Morning, Afternoon, Evening,) the climax of the story will take place at Night time and we shall be entering the climax in the next chapter! **

**Thank you for being patient with me, especially those who continue to follow and favorite my story. I will do my best to attempt to update more regularly. If you prefer one big chapter instead of multiple smaller ones than let me know and I would be more than happy to accommodate. If it doesn't matter then I will continue to use my own discretion. **

**The build-up is over. Stay tuned for the next chapter! **


	18. Naruhata Arc - VI

The Naruhata Vigilantes were on the move. The Crawler patrolled the city along with his two companions, Knuckleduster and Pop-Step. It was an eerily dark night with an ominous wind that haunted his ear. There was a feeling he held deep down inside that he could not quite put into words.

Something told him that this would be the last time that they would all be on patrol together.

He suddenly froze in his tracks. He had been sliding across the concrete in the unusually vacant city limits while he was flanked by his two comrades. They pumped their breaks as well when they saw him do so.

"What's wrong?" Pop-Step asked him. Since she stood behind him she could not read his expression. But even still, the stillness of his body said more than words ever could. He was afraid.

"Can't you feel it?" He asked her. Pop-Step exchanged glances with Knuckleduster, who swallowed hard in response.

Oh, so was she the only oblivious one? What did they pick up on that she didn't?

"It's your survival instinct. It's in overdrive," Knuckleduster explained. "Police officers have had similar experiences. The longer you flirt with death, the easier it is for you to pick up on her scent."

The Crawler nodded his head. Knuckleduster's words were poignant. He agreed with them, however, he couldn't help but feel as if the situation that they were in was of an entirely different nature. There were so many pieces to the puzzle that they were missing, yet they decided on visiting Makoto's residence in order to exchange information with her in order to see what she had dug up.

It was a sound plan, that much he was sure of, but….

"I guess you're right," The Crawler said back. He then went on all fours and pressed on towards Makoto's apartment.

The trio exchanged no more words.

* * *

"Thank you," Izuku said as the barista at the counter handed him a vanilla latte. He took a sip from his cup and turned to stare at the center of the coffee shop. Makoto had been stripped of all of her clothing save for her undergarments and strung up by her arms and legs to the coffee shop's ceiling fan. So far, she was still knocked out cold. The quirkless boy estimated that she would regain consciousness in approximately ten to twenty more minutes. Maybe the vigilantes would show up in time? He had certainly hoped so. All they had to do was follow the trail of breadcrumbs that he left for them. Surely they were competent enough to do so.

But for now, all he could do was continue to lean against the bar and drink his beverage. Though, he had to admit - he admired his handiwork.

"Thanks for giving me a front row seat, bad boy," The barista cooed to him. The skin on her body suddenly began to melt off of her as if it were hot wax. Underneath the disguise of a homely coffee shop barista was the sinister smile of one of the most twisted criminals in the League Of Villains.

"I figured that your talents would come in handy, Toga," Izuku said matter-of-factly. Her ability to disguise herself was invaluable, and it was a Quirk that Izuku wanted to utilize to the fullest. The quirkless boy knew that Toga had an unhealthy obsession with him. Why or how it manifested, he could not say, but he would use it to his advantage. Not only to help him carry out nefarious plots, but to get answers to questions that had been bugging him for quite some time.

"Hey, Toga," Izuku placed his coffee mug back down onto the counter and turned to face her. She leaned in towards him over the counter and gave him a bright smile which displayed her canine-like teeth.

"Yes?" She stared at him, her eyes were fixated on his emerald irises. The twisted villain appeared to have been in a dream-like state, or a trance. Izuku leaned in closer as well. Their noses nearly touched, and he could feel her breath tickle his nostrils.

"Did All For One ask Kuin to set me up?"

Silence.

His question lingered in the air for what seemed like an eternity. Toga's mesmerized gaze grew even more intense, yet it paled in comparison to Izuku's leer. His eyes were glazed over, it was as if he looked _through _her, and not _at _her. It caused her skin to crawl and she adored that feeling. There was no other person on Earth that could make her shrink underneath their gaze except for him - and she knew that he had the potential deep inside to make her do so. The fact that he realized his potential for madness whilst seeing through the veil that All For One attempted to encase him in was merely icing on the cake.

Toga had made her decision as soon as he had joined the League Of Villains. She had decided that her life was in his hands - and oh what capable hands they were! She knew that deep down he was a bad boy, a rebel. His jovial smile did little to mask the intensity of his gaze. Breaking him in was pleasurable, but building him back up was pure ecstasy.

No, it was a level beyond even that.

She reached her hand out to caress his cheek. He did not flinch or shirk away from her touch. Instead, his gaze remained steady and true. Never before had he been more tantalizing to her.

Toga thumbed Izuku's bottom lip in a sensual manner. If she could, she would have him right here. Right now. But perhaps that would be for another time.

"And what if I told you that he did?" Toga answered him with an amused grin etched on her lips.

Before Izuku could speak however, Makoto groaned behind him. He turned to regard her before bringing his attention back to Toga once more.

"Let's table this discussion for another time," He said as he reached into his pocket to don a single black glove over his right hand.

"For now, it's time for business."

Makoto slowly opened her eyes. Her vision was blurry and the room was spinning. Where was she? What happened to her? Why was her head so foggy? She remembered the advice that her brother once gave her several years ago. She had to remain calm in order to cut through the brush of confusion that took root within her mind. She inhaled deeply before expelling the air slowly, and intermittently. Afterward she opened her eyes once more and thankfully her practiced clarity ritual bore fruit. She recognized that she was still within the same coffee shop, but why? What happened?

"Hey! You're awake!" An excited voice greeted her. She turned her head to lay eyes on a teenage boy with unruly green hair emerald eyes. His single gloved fist caught her attention as well.

"That worked out really well huh?" The boy remarked to her. Makoto couldn't make heads or tails of what he spoke on. When she tried to move she finally noticed that she had been strung up to the ceiling fan like a deer ready to be butchered.

"What-?" Her voice was low and hoarse. Why did it take so much energy for her to speak?

"Xylazine, also known as horse tranquilizer," Izuku explained. "Even sixteen milligrams could be a fatal dose, so I only used eight. I was surprised at how quickly it took effect."

Suddenly, Makoto recalled what had happened to her. She was sitting down with this boy, Izuku, that was his name. She sat down with him and drank her coffee, and that was the last thing that she remembered. So he had drugged her? Why? And how could he talk about it so callously? He spoke as if he was explaining his science project to a classroom of his peers. It was eerie and unsettling.

Izuku circled her and studied his hostage's face. She was still disoriented, to say the least, but he was more than happy to use her as a guinea pig. Acquiring the drug was easy thanks to Kuin's resources, but he was afraid that even the small dosage that he administered to her would be enough to send her into a coma, or outright kill her before he could make use of her.

"W-Why…?" Makoto managed to breathe out her question. She couldn't wrap her head around it. This boy couldn't be older than sixteen, yet he was a villain? How? Why? What happened to him? What lead him down this path?

Izuku placed his hand beneath his chin in thought, but he seemed to have done it mockingly.

"Did you know that eighty percent of the population possesses some form of Quirk?" Izuku asked. Even though Makoto didn't respond, he knew that she was aware of the statistic.

Everyone was.

"So there is a twenty percent chance that a child will be born without one. However, if both of the child's parents have a Quirk then the chance that their child will be born with one increases exponentially," Izuku continued to explain the obvious.

"Both of my parents have a Quirk, and yet I do not. Unfortunately, fate dealt me a bad hand. Do you have any idea how people without Quirks can be treated?"

Makoto didn't respond. Mainly because she couldn't due to the effects of the drug, but Izuku took her silence as a sign of validation. Even if she could speak more, what could she say to him to steer him back onto the path of righteousness? Absolutely nothing.

The Qurikless boy reached his gloved hand into his pocket and took out the quarter that Makoto had given him when she purchased their beverages.

"So, let's see what fate has in store for you. I will flip this coin, and if it's heads, then Toga will kill you. If it's tails, then I will allow you to live until the vigilantes inevitably arrive. You have an even fifty-fifty chance of survival. That's more of a chance than I had at being born with a Quirk and living a normal life!" Izuku exclaimed with a smile. He couldn't help but chuckle at the irony of his statement, which in turn made Toga giggle alongside with him.

With the same jubilant smile plastered on his visage, Izuku flipped the coin into the air. He held his gloved palm open and when the coin landed in the palm of his hand the boy's smile widened.

"Looks like it's heads."

* * *

There was a letter left in Makoto's apartment.

The letter detailed to the Naruhata Vigilantes Makoto's thought process throughout the whole ordeal. She believed that Izuku was suspicious, and she also believed whole-heartedly that only he knew the truth behind her brother's sudden and untimely death. However, she also happened to have stumbled upon a plot that Kuin planned to hatch on the city's subway station. Apparently, her goal was to bomb the station. The motives behind Kuin's bombing and how Makoto found out about this information was not detailed in her letter, but it was alarming enough that she hadn't come back from her coffee shop run - an event that she also included within the letter.

Regardless, their next move was simple. The Crawler would go rendezvous with Makoto in the coffee shop while Knuckleduster and Pop-Step headed to the subway station and confront Kuin. Knuckleduster also contacted the police and requested a bomb squad in order to disarm any explosives that they may come across.

Since The Crawler moved on all fours at maximum speeds, he managed to reach the coffee shop in mere minutes. The lights were on and the open sign was still displayed despite the fact that it was close to closing hours. Usually the lights would turn dim and a worker would be cleaning up around this time of night. Yet from his vantage point, he could see Makoto sitting at a table waiting for him.

He pulled back his hood and stepped inside. After he did so he was greeted by Makoto, who gave him a gentle smile but also seemed rather disheveled.

"I'm glad that you found my letter," Makoto said.

Koichi was amazed at how far ahead that she thought, but he didn't expect anything less from the sister of Tokyo's finest detective. She was sharp as a tact herself and her deductive reason rivaled her brother's.

"There's something that I want to show you," Makoto stood up from her chair and beckoned for him to follow her. Koichi followed behind her until they both reached the female bathroom.

"In here," Makoto said.

She held the door open for Koichi to enter, which he did so without hesitation.

"What did you find?" Koichi asked her.

Makoto pointed to the middle bathroom stall. "In there," She said.

Koichi opened the stall door and saw that a sheet was covering the entirety of the toilet. Confused, he moved the sheet out of the way and made a bone chilling discovery.

Inside of the toilet was a human head.

All of the color drained from his face, and when he turned to look back at Makoto, he saw her skin melt off of her body as if she was shedding her skin akin to the manner a snake would.

Horrified, Koichi took a step back and the heel of his foot touched the base of the toilet. When he turned to look inside of it once more, his eyes grew wide and tears began to pour from his irises.

_No way…._

The head belonged to Makoto.

So then…

Who was in front of him-

All thoughts turned to silence.

All brain activity for The Crawler had ceased.

Because Toga had decapitated him in one fell swoop.

* * *

_Damn!_

Pop-Step wanted to pull her hair out.

_Damn! Damn! Damn! _

When she arrived at the subway station along with Knuckleduster, the bomb squad had thankfully been on the scene. However, there was just one small problem….

There were two bombs.

Only one explosive ordnance expert was deployed with the bomb squad because it was believed that there would only be one bomb in total. However, since there were two, it complicated the situation greatly.

Thankfully all of the civilians had been evacuated, but unfortunately that was the only silver lining.

In addition to the fact that there were two bombs on opposite sides of the subway station, but Pop-Step saw a message flash across the LED screen of the subway.

"_**The code to disarm Bomb A will only appear after Bomb B's timer has reached seven seconds remaining.**_"

Bomb A had the potential to cause the most collateral damage. At least, according to the ordnance expert that had arrived at the scene. It was latched onto a pillar that, if collapsed, would create a sink hole large enough to drag several buildings under and potentially harm and kill hundreds.

When Pop-Step described the type of explosive that Bomb B was to the expert over the phone, he told her that by comparison, Bomb B was a rather tame explosion that must have been designed to kill or maim one person.

Great, so they were set-up from the beginning.

Knuckleduster must have seen what she had seen on the display screen, as well as the rest of the bomb squad. Unfortunately there was only one minute left on the timer. This meant that neither Knuckleduster nor the explosive ordnance expert had enough time to make it to her and back without dying in the explosion.

So she had two choices.

Leave now and _maybe _make it in time to save herself - and then risk the lives of hundreds on the off chance that the ordnance expert could disarm the bomb.

Or, she could ensure the safety of hundreds of innocent civilians by sacrificing her own life in the process and sending the code via text to Knuckleduster so that him and the bomb squad could disarm Bomb A.

Easy decision.

"Still no luck huh?" Pop-Step said over the phone to Knuckleduster.

There was a brief pause before he answered her.

"The wiring has been purposefully tied into a linchpin that, if pulled, will set off the explosive. And the only way to cut the proper wire would be to pull on it to create enough slack for it to be cut in the first place."

Pop-Step sighed.

"So I have no choice then-"

"No!" Knuckleduster cut her off. "Don't give up hope! We still have forty-five seconds left. Maybe we can find another way-"

"But you just said that you can't disarm it without setting it off. The only way to safely disarm it is for me to text you the code, right?" Pop-Step interrupted him.

Knuckleduster didn't answer.

"You know," Pop-Step began to say. "I had a lot of fun working with you and Koichi. I will cherish the memories..."

Tears began to fall from her cheeks and onto the concrete pavement below. They weren't tears of sadness rather, they were tears of joy. It was bittersweet in a way, because she never pictured herself going out in a blaze of glory to save countless lives.

She never imagined that she would die a hero.

"Please, don't talk like that," Knuckleduster's voice was almost as faint as a whisper. Was he crying as well?

_Twenty seconds left. _

"It's been fun, really. Now get ready to receive the code," Pop-Step said.

On the other end of the phone Knuckleduster wiped his face and told the explosive ordnance expert to get into position to punch in the code.

"Oh, and could you do me one last favor Knuckleduster," Pop-Step began to say.

"Yes! Anything!" Knuckleduster exclaimed to her.

"Tell Koichi that I'm sorry, okay?"

_Ten seconds left. _

"Okay, so the code is…."

_Seven seconds left. _

The code displayed on the timer of Pop-Step's bomb.

"Seven, Six, Nine, One, One."

Knuckleduster repeated the code that Pop-Step had given him.

After the ordnance expert punched in the code, Bomb A disarmed.

And in the distance, Bomb B exploded.

* * *

**I hope you all enjoyed the climax of the arc! I apologize for the wait, again, work has been busy, and my personal life got in the way of my muse. Relationships can take up a lot of your time, and I'm starting to realize that I might be in a point in my life where I need to keep things casual while I continue to work and pursue other hobbies. But I digress. I made this chapter longer because a reviewer preferred longer chapters instead of me splitting it up. Besides, isn't it better if the climax was self-contained inside of a single chapter anyways? **

**The next chapter will conclude the Naruhata Arc, and I promise you, you won't want to miss what I have planned. Stay tuned! **


	19. Naruhata Arc - Conclusion

Kuin saw the explosion occur from the comfort of her own home through the window of her bedroom thanks to her handy set of binoculars. She smiled devilishly as the plan that Deku presented to her came into fruition. What's more was that the crime lord didn't have to lift a single finger either - which was what he had promised her. There was a part of her that wanted to see their deaths up close, but the satisfaction that she felt was still at an all time high all the same.

That boy, Deku, he was something else. Who knew that he had such a devious mind? He enlisted the help of Toga to lure Makoto into a trap, and he knew ahead of time that the Naruhata Vigilantes would split up once they caught wind of the bombs she and her cronies planted in the subway. He even predicted _which _of them will show up to the cafe, and which will try and stop the bombs.

He was a little evil genius, and it warmed her heart. She wanted, no, she _had _to have him for herself. He would be a great asset for the Villain Factory. Maybe she should tell him what All For One truly had in store for him? Deku didn't know that the only reason that Kuin was in Tokyo wasn't to expand Trigger into the city, but it was to do All For One a favor by setting Deku up to be apprehended by the police. Why All For One was so interested in the boy, Kuin did not, but now after seeing him work up close, she fully understood.

Deku had the potential to bring the world to heel.

He was a homely looking, somewhat awkwardly charming boy with a harmless appearance. And in the end, that's what made him all the more dangerous.

With that thought, Kuin decided that she was going to recruit him - by any means necessary.

Izuku arrived at Kuin's apartment after Toga had dropped him off. He instructed her to wait for him in the parking lot while he went inside and wrapped up his business with Kuin.

The quirkless boy knocked on the door and after a pregnant pause the door opened and to his shock and dismay he was greeted by Kuin dressed in a silky strapless red dress that stopped just above her knees. Her hair was down and she held a glass of wine in her hand.

"Why hello there Deku," Kuin cooed to him as she took his hand and lead him inside. She closed the door and Izuku was surprised to see that Kuin had turned the living room into a dining room and had set up a table for the two of them to eat.

The meal that was on the table for him was a bowl of Katsudon, a deep-fried pork cutlet over a bowl of rice with eggs and vegetables. It was his favorite meal to eat.

"You like this, don't you?" Kuin asked him. Izuku glanced at the perfectly made plate and nodded his head.

"I do," He said.

Kuin giggled and stepped closer to him, caressing his arm and leaning her lips towards his ear to whisper to him in a sultry tone, "I wasn't talking about the meal."

Izuku turned to face her and studied her gaze. He recognized the look that she gave him, it was the same look that Toga gave him all of the time - the yearning. Before he had always been shy around girls, and there were times that he would be too embarrassed to get close to them. But Toga's overfamiliarity with him cured him of his ailment of timidness.

He knew what Kuin wanted from him.

What she _really _wanted from him.

He interlaced his hand with hers and leaned in to plant a chaste kiss onto her lips. He could taste the wine residue that she had drank. It was strong, yet subtle all the felt Kuin's tongue coil into his mouth, which in turn caused the quirkless boy to follow her lead. His mind was cloudy as his thoughts turned more and more ravenous. When he felt Kuin wrap her arms around his neck he used his free hand to trace her back down to her supple posterior. He heard her gasp after he did so, an encouraging sign for a novice such as himself. What he did, or rather, what he was currently doing, was merely being done thanks to pure instinct. Izuku allowed the impure thoughts that laid dormant within him to take hold and guide him from moment to moment.

_Touch her there, _he groped Kuin's butt and elicited another moan from her. She responded by burying her face into his neck and licking his ear lobe.

Now _that _was a weak spot that he hadn't known he had. He felt a shiver run up and down his spine and he was temporarily frozen. Yet, he managed to press on by pushing Kuin further and further backwards until they both had entered her bedroom. All the while they remained in a passionate embrace - kissing, licking, and rubbing one another in a passionate trance. With one more push Kuin was flat on her back on top of her bed, and Izuku began to undress himself.

Kuin sat up to help him, aiming for his belt first. After she had taken it off she quickly pulled down his undergarments and leaned in plant a kiss onto his member. Izuku couldn't help but moan at the pleasurable sensation - it was overwhelming to say the least. Kuin continued her treatment until she finally embraced him with his lips fully. Izuku moaned louder, loving every second and every moment of the euphoria. He became more and more excited, and when he was close to climaxing Kuin pulled back spread her legs wide open.

It was at that moment that Izuku noticed for the first time that she wasn't wearing any panties.

There were no words that needed to be exchanged.

Izuku crawled on top of her and began to plant kisses onto her neck, all the while Kuin reached her hand down to guide him inside of her. Once their union had been cemented, they both moaned in synchronized pleasure and what followed were a symphony of sultry moans that echoed within the bedroom.

For Izuku, all rational thought had abandoned him long ago. He continued to work Kuin's body and paid attention to the motions that elicited a pleasurable response from her. What he found was that whenever he pumped from an angle, her cries grew louder. He continued to do just that until Kuin dug her nails onto his shoulders so tightly that his skin began to tear.

"Y-You're going to make me-Ah!"

She didn't have to say it - Izuku knew what he was doing. He was a quick study after all.

A few more pumps brought Kuin to ecstasy - as well as himself.

Izuku rolled over in the bed exhausted. Kuin laid next to him with a satisfied smile plastered on her visage. Her gaze was fixated on the ceiling, but it appeared as if her mind was still floating from the experience.

"That was…." She didn't finish her statement. She couldn't find the words to describe it.

Izuku smiled, more so to himself. He had truly outdone himself this time. Not only did he get the proverbial monkey off his back, but he managed to do it well to boot.

Kuin rolled over to him and began to circle his chest with her finger. "You should join the Villain Factory."

That wasn't a request.

"Maybe I should," Izuku turned to regard her with a smile. Afterward he leaned in and planted a kiss on her lips.

"Want some tea?" He asked her.

"Sure," Kuin responded with a soft smile.

Izuku stood up and managed to regain his bearings. He put his clothes back on and entered the kitchen and proceeded to make a batch of herbal tea which he poured into two different coffee mugs. Afterwards he reentered the bedroom and handed Kuin one of the mugs.

"A toast to joining the Villain Factory," Izuku offered.

Kuin smiled and touched mugs with him and downed most of her tea afterwards.

"You know," Izuku began to say as he placed his coffee mug back down onto the nightstand. "I remember back when we first met at the parking garage that you told me that it was 'a shame'. You were talking about All For One setting me up, weren't you?"

Kuin couldn't hide her smile. So he _had _figured it out huh? Well, that was to be expected. Sooner or later the pieces of the puzzles were going to fall into place.

"All For One knew that Detective Tsukauichi was my mentor, and he said that there wasn't anything about me that he didn't know. So if I follow what he said to its logical conclusion then…." Izuku's voice trailed off. He sounded somber, almost sad. That was until he suddenly began to chuckle heartily.

"Then the joke has been on me the whole time, hasn't it?" Izuku's question was rhetorical, that much was for sure, but Kuin couldn't help but _want _to answer him. Still, what could she say in this situation?

Still, the look on his face was ...unnerving. His smile was as jovial as ever, but his eyes were sharper than a predator's, and they were glazed over as well.

"But now, the joke will be on _you._"

When Kuin registered the words that Izuku had said, she felt her body begin to go limp and her heart rate rise. She instantly realized what had been done to her and attempted to summon a swarm of bees. If Deku was going to poison her like he had done Makoto, then the least she could do was take him down with her.

However, her face was smothered by a pillow before she could summon her bees through her eyepatch.

"Ah, ah, ah, not so fast," Izuku said as he continued to suffocate her. Thankfully due to the effect of the horse tranquilizer, Kuin wasn't able to put up much of a fight. And even though that he had placed enough of the drug in her drink to kill her in minutes, he had to be sure that he didn't give the Queen Bee that had embedded itself within her any chance to escape.

"You underestimated me like everyone else. But I don't need a Quirk to see through lies," Izuku continued to smother Kuin as her body convulsed due to the effect of the horse tranquilizer. Her life would fade soon.

"All For One? One For All? When I'm done there won't be anything for anyone ..." Kuin's body finally went completely limp.

"There will be nothing at all."

Izuku stood up and reached into his pants pocket to reveal a match and a matchbox. He struck the match and placed it on top of Kuin's and watched it begin to burn. He wasn't happy with his decision per say, but he did what needed to be done. She wanted to use him to her own ends, just like All For One, and Izuku wasn't going to allow anyone to control his life anymore.

From now on he was his own man.

As her apartment continued to burn Izuku calmly made his way to the kitchen and picked up the pork cutlet bowl that Kuin had made from him on his way out of the front door. There was no use in wasting a perfectly good meal now was there?

Toga was still waiting for him in the parking lot and Izuku entered the passenger's seat of the car.

No words were said as Toga pulled out of the parking lot and rode towards Tokyo. She knew what Deku's next plan entailed - to take down All For One.

* * *

**Surprise update! I hope you all enjoyed the conclusion to the Naruhata Arc! So I usually don't write lemons especially in stories such as these but I felt that it was necessary to show the lengths that Kuin was willing to go to attempt to manipulate Deku. And obviously that didn't work out well for her. Also, well, I have to make good use of that "M" tag now don't I? **

**Tell me what you think and if you want more sexual content (as long as it makes sense for the story of course) then don't hesitate to express your interests. And as always, please leave a review on not only the chapter but the story so far as well. **


	20. Peace Loves, Men Kill - I

The last time that Izuku had been inside of a hospital was after he had gotten shot. Yet here he was, once again within the walls of that very same hospital.

Except this time, he was there as a visitor.

An unauthorized visitor.

Officially, as in, on the record, Izuku Midoriya was dead. He had been killed in a police station fire in Tokyo which claimed the lives of several other police officers as well as famed and renowned police detective Tsukauchi Naomasa.

There had been reports of sightings of his person in the Naruhata District, but these rumors were unconfirmed.

Izuku would like for them to stay that way.

For now.

With the help of Kurogiri's Warp Gate Quirk, Izuku was able to visit someone that was near and dear to his heart in her own room while going undetected. She slept peacefully, her breaths were shallow and faint but from what the quirkless boy could deduce, she seemed healthy enough. Her color had not faded, but her hair was matted and unkempt. She appeared to have lost a lot of weight, to the point where she appeared almost sickly.

Izuku frowned as he approached her and took her hand in his own. She was cold to the touch and it broke his heart.

"Mother…"

From what Izuku had gathered his mother suffered a mental breakdown after she believed that he had died in the police station fire. What he did not know however, was that she had been moved from the psychiatric ward to hospital care after she had suffered a stroke.

As far as he knew, she would never be the same.

And it was all because of him.

He gently squeezed her hand as his resolve to see his dream come to fruition ignited like a fire in a furnace within him.

Izuku would create a world without Quirks in her honor so that her sacrifice would not be in vain.

And he would start by removing the man that was responsible for setting all of the events in motion - All For One.

But doing so wouldn't be easy. All For One was extremely powerful, intelligent, shrewd, and charismatic. He spearheaded a criminal empire as well as a countless supply of Nomus as well. Yet he constantly favored Tomura for a reason that eluded him.

Tomura did not have the trappings of a leader. Furthermore, he was reckless, hot-headed, and short sighted. For all of his resources at his disposal, he continued to fail over and over again. Izuku found out that Tomura's operation to attack U.A. was a resounding failure. When he inquired about the plan that was put into place, Kurogiri informed him that the plan was simply a full on frontal assault. There wasn't a snowball's chance in Hell that a juiced up Nomu would be a match for the one and only All Might.

He then attempted to upstage the infamous Hero Killer Stain by deploying Nomus to wreak havoc and destruction when he could have recruited Stain instead. Unfortunately, he didn't want Stain to join the ranks of the League Of Villains due to his own foolish pride. Tomura was a loose cannon and he had the potential to put every villain in jeopardy - and Izuku could not allow that to happen.

There were already fractures within the group. Izuku could tell that Kurogiri was a sensible man, so convincing him to join his cause once he usurped All For One was all but secured. Toga was infatuated with him and would follow him to Hell and back, and Dabi seemed as if he wouldn't care one way or another. From what Izuku could surmise, Dabi had an independent streak but he would be loyal to whoever was in charge. The same assumption could be safely made about Twice as well.

Still, the quirkless boy couldn't get ahead of himself.

He had no concrete plan on exacting revenge on All For One, so at that current moment it was simply a pipe dream.

"Deku," Kurogiri spoke in a quiet tone which broke Izuku's train of thought. "It's almost time for the meeting."

Izuku nodded at him as he turned his attention back to his mother and placed another hand atop of her own in an affectionate manner.

However, as he pulled away he managed to catch a glimpse at a get well card that was situated on her night stand. Curious, Izuku read it, half expecting it to be from his father.

To his shock and dismay, the card was from Bakugou.

_I'm not good at these sorts of things but….I know things must be hard for you right now. _

_Get well soon._

_Sincerely, Katsuki Bakugou. _

Izuku couldn't believe it. The Bakugou that _he _knew would _never _write a get well card. His mother had to have been the one to put him up to it.

Still, as Izuku looked around the room, he noticed that there weren't anymore cards. This caused him to feel sick because there was one person who was supposed to have cared more than anyone else - and that person still hadn't shown his face.

_You're letting 'Kaachan' outdo you now, father?! _

"Deku!" Kurogiri called out to him once more, this time he spoke in an alarming tone. Izuku heard the doorknob turn, but thankfully he and Kurogiri managed to pass through the warp gate before the nurse that was to enter the room was none the wiser.

* * *

Back at the hideout of the League Of Villains, everyone gathered and awaited for Tomura to arrive since he was the one that called the meeting in the first place. Whatever plan that he had in store must have been a big one, because several other villains that Izuku had never seen before showed up as well.

It seemed as if Tomura was quite the recruiter since he managed to bring in six more villains into the fold. Kurogiri brought Izuku up to speed on the current events.

One of the new recruits was a man named Mr. Compress, who, as his name suggested, possessed the ability to literally "compress" his targets into small marble-like spheres.

Another new recruit was a gecko-like creature named Spinner who carried a sword strapped onto his back. He seemed to have been influenced the most by Stain's ideology as shown by his costume.

Big Sis Magne was a transgender woman that had a Quirk capable of generating a magnetized polarity around her. The exact nature of her Quirk was unknown even to Kurogiri, but Izuku was eager to see it in action due to the useful nature of the Quirk.

Another recruit that appeared to have a very useful Quirk was Mustard. Kurogiri informed Izuku that the villain boasted that his gas was capable of knocking out anyone since at the end of the day, heroes were "only human." That was a sentiment that Izuku could get behind.

The other two recruits however, were less than stellar.

One was restrained in a black straitjacket with only his mouth exposed. He had a fetish for flesh, specifically, for _biting _off flesh. He was for all intents and purposes, a psychotic psychopath that had very little usefulness outside of causing carnage and mayhem. The same could be said for Muscular as well, the last and final new recruit.

He had a very impressive Quirk which allowed him to augment his physical capabilities to superhuman levels. Still, he had very little in the way of brains and in the end from what Izuku was told, he was simply a mindless brute.

So in other words, he was just Tomura's type.

Still, Izuku had to give him credit - their numbers swelled. With the versatility of everyone's Quirks involved, the League Of Villains could plan an attack that could devastate the pro heroes and bring them to their knees.

"Good, everyone has arrived," Tomura began to say as he entered the room. "Let's cut to the chase. I have another new recruit in mind and we are going to get him."

This caused Izuku to give Tomura a perplexed look. What new recruit would be important enough to require an entire meeting on obtaining them?

Toga rolled in the T.V. monitor and turned it on to show footage of the U.A. Sports Festival. Izuku could not help but frown. It was his dream to not only attend U.A., but to be a participant in the festival as well.

However, what shocked him even more was that Bakugou ended up coming in first place in the festival. Though he had been literally chained, gagged, and forced to accept his gold medal. His antics almost caused Izuku to smile to himself, it was nostalgic to say the least. Perhaps there were still bits and pieces of himself that longed for days past.

Toga paused the video after Bakugou's volatile behavior was shown for all of the villains to see.

"_That _is our new recruit. Katsuki Bakugou," Tomura declared.

Everyone seemed interested in recruiting him and agreed with Tomura's decision. Bakugou was angry, volatile, and unpredictable. He possessed an extremely powerful and destructive Quirk and his talent for combat was practically second to none even when ranked against pro heroes.

Still, Izuku had enough.

He had to speak up.

Because Bakugou would _never _join the League of Villains.

"Kaacha-" Izuku corrected himself. "Bakugou would only join us over his dead body. He is obsessed with All Might because All Might always win, and Bakugou wants to win."

The room grew silent, and Tomura narrowed his eyes at Izuku's interjection.

"If that was the case, then why was he so angry _after _he won?"

Izuku did not have a good answer for that. At least, he didn't have an answer that was based on anything concrete. But he knew Bakugou perhaps better than anybody, which also meant that he knew his insecurities too.

"Someone probably wounded his pride," Izuku said with a shrug.

"_Probably,_" Tomura emphasized. "That means that you don't know for sure, right?"

Izuku did not respond.

"So shut your trap. You don't even play a part in this plan. The only reason why you're here is because All For One wanted me to include you in the meeting. Know your place, _Deku," _Tomura spat Izuku's name out as if it disgusted him.

The tension in the air between them was thick, and one could cut it with a knife. However, Izuku knew when to back down. If Tomura was determined to proceed with his foolish plan then he wasn't going to stop him.

In fact….

A sinister smile crept on his visage, it was visible to no one present.

_What am I an idiot? This is perfect! _

It was all Izuku could do to not burst into a hysterical fit of laughter as his brain pieced together the events to come as if he had just been granted clairvoyant sight.

Yes, he would allow Tomura to carry out his foolhardy plan. Kidnapping Bakugou would bring not only some of the most accomplished pro heroes to walk the face of the Earth, but the ultimate pro hero as well - All Might.

That would force All For One out of hiding in order to confront him.

And as much as Izuku hated to admit it, but whenever All Might inevitable confronts All For One, he would be hoping for his victory.

Because then All Might's fall would be _his_ own doing.

* * *

**Merry Christmas! Or should I say Happy Holidays? Regardless, the hiatus is finally over. I apologize for the delay, life has been hectic for me lately but I have the trajectory of this arc mapped out in my head already, so expect a more steady stream of updaes from me. **

**As always, please rate and review. **

**Thank you! **


	21. Peace Loves, Men Kill - II

It was hard to move about the city since it was still believed that he had been killed in the police department fire several weeks ago. There had been unconfirmed rumors and reports of sightings of a person that matched his description in the Naruhata Ward but the rumors were just that - unconfirmed.

And now, Izuku Midoriya would like for it to _not _stay that way.

His ultimate goal was simple - to take down All For One and the League Of Villains. However, _he _wasn't going to get his hands dirty, but the _heroes _on the other hand would take his bait and become his useful pawns in his game of chess.

Still, Izuku had his own following of sorts within the League. He knew that Toga would follow him to the ends of the Earth, and that Kurogiri thought him competent and shrewd, qualities that he admired in a person. The other two League members that Izuku had an affinity for were Dabi and Twice, and where they stood with him wasn't known for sure.

So, before Tomura sent them off on a mission that Izuku thought of to be a foolish endeavor at best, the Quirkless boy decided to pull Kuogiri aside and speak with him.

And by _aside_, their meeting location was _outside _the League headquarters and inside of an abandoned and dilapidated warehouse just a few blocks away.

"Thank you for agreeing to speak with me," Izuku said to him earnestly.

"I figured that it was important since you insisted that we should speak in private," Kurogiri said.

That's what Izuku liked about Kurogiri the most. He was extremely reasonable and even charitable when it came to his allies. His fierce loyalty was an asset that Izuku had to have for himself - his talents would be squandered due to Tomura's temperamental nature.

"It is important, and I ask you to keep what I say between us and the parties involved," Izuku said.

"You have my word," Kurogiri assured him.

"I do not think that Bakugou would join the League in a million years. He was obsessed with becoming the number one hero, and it is safe to say that he still is," Izuku explained.

"Correct me if I am wrong but, was it not too long ago that _you _wanted to be a hero? Who is to say that Bakugou would not join our cause like you did?" Kurogiri asked him.

Izuku's expression darkened.

"That's what I wanted to talk to you about as well," Izuku began to say. "You know what All For One did to me, don't you?"

Kurogiri stiffened his posture ever so slightly. "I do," He answered.

"So you and Toga knew this whole time. Does anyone else in the League know?" Izuku asked him.

Kurogiri's golden glowing eyes widened in a rare show of disbelief. "I was not aware that Toga had any knowledge of All For One's project."

Izuku gave Kurogiri a devious smile.

"She didn't. She thought that he simply wanted to go out of his way to recruit me. But you just told me that he had a project in place," Izuku said.

It took a moment for Kurogiri to process what Izuku had done, but once realization dawned on him the villain couldn't help but be impressed by the Quirkless boy's shrewdness. The fact that he found out that All For One had been the orchestrator of his recent misfortunes was impressive enough, but to then use the information he had to not only deduce that Kurogiri knew, but to also consider the fact that there was another part to All For One's plan beyond his recruitment showed his intelligence.

Astonished by Izuku's brilliance, all Kurogiri could do was clap his hands together in order to give Izuku a round of applause.

"Bravo, Izuku, bravo. You are every bit the man that All For One said that you would be," Kurogiri began.

"However, now I must make a request to you, and ask that what I tell you is to stay between us, and us alone," Kurogiri said.

Izuku gave Kurogiri a nod.

"I was originally tasked by All For One to oversee Tomura's development so that he could one day replace All For One and take over the League. However, once you were recruited, All For One approached me and gave me a new set of orders; I was instructed to treat you 'with the same amount of reverence' as I treat Tomura. He thinks very highly of you and I believe that he knew that the day would come when you would approach me."

"So you're saying that All For One _wanted_ me to discover the truth?" Izuku asked.

"No," Kurogiri corrected him. "All For One _expected _you to discover the truth."

Izuku could not help but laugh heartily. His laughter echoed within the abandoned warehouse as he tried to regain control of himself. It was hard for him to because it was all just too perfect.

"Oh, that's a good one. That's rich, I'm almost in tears," Izuku wiped his eyes. "And here I thought that All For One favored Tomura over me. I'm glad to know how highly he thinks of me. I am, in fact, truly honored."

Kurogiri did not respond to Izuku's musings.

"Anyways, I have a plan in place that I need your help with." Izuku said.

"I am listening," Kurogiri responded.

"Like I said before, Tomura's mission is bound to fail. The difference between Bakugou and I is that Bakugou wasn't pushed into a corner with no way out like I was. He's too prideful to take the route that I did to begin with because he has a very powerful Quirk to fall back on. But even if we assume that Bakugou _might _join us, Tomura's plan could still result in the destruction of the entire League," Izuku explained.

"How do you figure that?" Kurogiri asked him.

"It would be different if Tomura wanted to capture an actual hero, but to go out of his way to capture a U.A. student, a _well known _U.A. student at that, in the middle of his training course would only succeed in turning our hideout into a warzone. Dozens of heroes would be at our doorstep, including All Might," Izuku explained to him.

"If All Might shows up then All For One will defeat him once and for all," Kurogiri began to say. "With All Might's defeat and death at the hands of All For One, it would only serve to severely weaken the morale of all of the pro heroes and citizens and in turn galvanize villains everywhere."

_Do you honestly believe that? _Is what Izuku wanted to ask, however, he decided to hold his tongue. There was a possibility that All For One could defeat and kill All Might, but Izuku questioned his ability to do so. If All For One really possessed the strength for such a feat, then he would have done so when they both fought all those years ago. He did succeed in mortally wounding All Might, but in the end the injuries that All For One sustained while battling him were severe enough to leave him virtually crippled.

Izuku's money was on All Might.

Perhaps that was the fanboy in him speaking, or perhaps he was just being realistic. Regardless, he couldn't openly tell Kurogiri that he doubted All For One's ability to defeat All Might, and by extension that he wanted All Might to win so that he could ultimately usurp the League and become its new head. He would have liked to, but if what Kurogiri said was true, then that meant that he would only follow Izuku _after _he secured his position, not before.

"Well, allow me to set the table for All Might's demise," Izuku began to say with a sinister smile.

"I need you to warp me to the front entrance of the Kyoto police headquarters."

* * *

**I feel like I have been apologizing for delays every time now, but now I must again apologize for the delay. I have been through some major life changes. **

**The first one is that I mentioned before how I wanted to focus more on myself and less on relationships. Well my girlfriend is now pregnant with our child. I am happy, anxious, and overwhelmed all at once. Still, we have gotten a ton of support from both of our families so it has eased our burdens. We have moved in together within the past month and are settling in. **

**Secondly, the death of my idol Kobe Bryant has severely impacted my life. He was like a second father to me, and for those who may not know, Kobe Bryant was an American basketball player that recently retired from the NBA (National Basketball Association) that is not only a legend on the court, but off the court his work ethic and interviews where he preaches hard work, dedication, and motivation inspired me in many ways. The suddenness of it I think is what really threw me off and I am still having a hard time processing it. **

**Lastly, I have decided that I would like to make writing stories a part of my life as well as my income, so I have been flirting with an idea of creating a blog where I can post all of my stories and my funding would come exclusively through paetron. Then later down the road I would release original, full-length novels. I obviously don't have the fanbase to support this idea yet, but I believe that it is very doable and in the long term I am sure that it could pay off, but in order for it to do so I have to be more consistent, which I shall try my best to be. **

**Anyways, sorry for the excuses. I will try my best to do better. Please Rate and Review and stay tuned for the next chapter. Thank you so, so much for those who have continued to read and support me in spite of my hiatuses. I know some chapters I write are more eventful than others, but I hope that my last arc has earned your trust with my build-ups. **


	22. Peace Loves, Men Kill - III

It had been another long, long day at the office for Kenji Tsuragamae.

He was the Chief Of Police born with a Quirk that gave him the appearance of a canine. In spite of his rather "special" feature to say the least, he still managed to work hard and rise in the ranks. It took a lot of time, dedication, and discipline to get to where he was, but it was worth it in the long run.

Kenji was a man that wanted fairness above all else - he believed that the law should be interpreted in a way that upheld such a standard. For instance, when a group of U.A. students used their Quirks without authorization in order to aid in the capture of the Hero Killer Stain, he chose to sweep it under the rug.

Why?

Because it was the right thing to do.

Yet now he was under an immense amount of pressure to find the villain, or villains, responsible for the death of a beloved detective - Naomasa Tsukauchi, as well as the brave men and women who died in a rather "peculiar" fire at a police station in Tokyo several weeks ago.

Technically, the incident was ruled as nothing more than a freak accident, but the public knew that something didn't add up. Kenji had no leads, no witnesses, nothing - yet he was expected to perform a miracle.

The man who upheld fairness was put in a rather unfair situation.

But that came with the territory.

As investigations continued, there were rather strange details that came flooding into his office.

For starters, there had been reports of a drug infestation affecting the populace in Tokyo called "Trigger." It was a drug that could enhance the Quirks of those who ingested it at the cost of the user's sanity and reason. Thankfully, local law enforcement managed to capture a few cases of the dangerous drug and trace the source of its origin back to the Naruhata ward - and _that _was when details began to become eerie.

There was a victim of the police fire that many mourned. He was a boy that had apparently been put into holding for a misunderstanding. Facial reconstruction put him at the age of fifteen or sixteen, and his name was Izuku Midoriya. The tragedy of a teenager's death, someone who was locked up under false pretenses, put the police under even more pressure to get to the bottom of it all.

But there had been odd reports of sighting the boy in the Naruhata Ward.

On Kenji's desk was a picture of a building within the Naruhata Ward, but in the background a local hero who is now deceased by the name of "The Crawler" was shown carrying a boy on his back that looked oddly similar to Izuku Midoriya. Unfortunately the piece of evidence could not yet be verified.

With a huff Kenji sat back in his chair in his office. On his wall was a picture of All Might smiling brightly. It spurred him on as it did so many others. He couldn't give up now, he had no keep going - there was no time to mope around.

As he sat back up in his chair and began to go over all of the evidence one more time a police officer knocked on his door.

"Come on in," Kenji said.

The officer, a man with a scruffy beard, entered the room.

"Sir, we have someone in custody that we thought you would like to speak to."

Kenji's ears perked up, although his expression remained impassive.

"Oh? Who is it?"

The officer paused for a moment before he spoke. "Well, I'm not sure if we can verify his identity yet, but he claims to be Izuku Midoriya."

* * *

The last time Izuku was in an interrogation room he was terrified.

Yet now, he was calm.

He had gone over in his head over a dozen times the facade that he would put up, as well as the excuses that he would make for each and every possible scenario that his mind could conceive.

Still, he knew better than to be overconfident. He couldn't play the fool, because they were aware that he was at the police station when Tsukauchi was killed along with the rest of his colleagues. He had an answer prepared for that.

There was also a possibility that reports would surface that someone matching his description was sighted in the Naruhata Ward. There might have even been reports of him appearing with or around Koichi, also known as "The Crawler," before his decapitated corpse was found. He had an answer prepared for that.

Where had he been staying? He had an answer prepared for that question as well.

He was ready.

Right on cue, the Chief Of Police stepped into the room and dismissed the officer that had been guarding the door. It seemed that he wanted absolute privacy.

After the canine faced man took a seat in his chair opposite of Izuku, he began to speak.

"First, I must inform you that this interrogation will be recorded for training and archive purposes. Do you consent?"

Izuku wanted to roll his eyes.

What an ametuer trick.

The recording would be kept regardless of his consent or not, and it would be shared with parties that were part of the investigation team. Furthermore, the recording was _already _happening at this very moment and if Izuku refused then he would only make himself look suspicious to the detectives and body language experts that studied the recording.

Thus, the only correct answer would be to enthusiastically agree.

"Yes, yes of course. I want to aid the investigation however I can," Izuku said.

"That's good to hear," Kenji said. He then placed a manilla folder onto the table and opened it up. From Izuku's vantage point, the folder was simply filled with pictures.

Kenji then slid Izuku a picture of a building in the Naruhata Ward, but upon further inspection he saw that there had been a sighting of "The Crawler" in the background carrying someone that looked a lot like himself.

"Can you verify this sighting for me?" The Chief asked him.

Izuku nodded his head. "Yes, he saved me from a robbery at the Marukane Department Store."

Kenji paused for a moment, as if he was unsure of what to say or ask next. Izuku found that interesting to say the least. That meant the Naruhata Ward authorities didn't contact him about the robbery, thus, he could not immediately verify his statement.

"So you _are _Izuku Midoriya, correct?" Kenji asked him.

Izuku found it humorous to say the least that Kenji posed his statement as a question.

"Yes, I am," Izuku simply stated.

"So you were present during the fire at the police station that killed several of my colleagues, including Naomasa Tsukaichi?" Kenji asked.

"Yes, that is correct," Izuku verified.

"Then explain this to me," Kenji moved the picture of Izuku's sighting in Naruhata to the side in order to reveal a picture of a charred corpse.

Izuku appeared sick at the sight of it.

"These were your verified remains, Izuku," Kenji began to say. "So how did you survive? And how did you end up in the Naruhata Ward?"

Izuku leaned into his seat. He appeared unsteady, a bit disheveled, and on edge.

"A group of villains raided the police station. They were after Detective Tsukauchi because he was close to exposing their entire operation of flooding the streets of Tokyo with a drug called 'Trigger.' When they saw me they were going to kill me, but I managed to convince them that I could be useful alive," Izuku said.

Kenji perked up at the last part of Izuku's testimony.

"So, how did you manage to convince a group of villains to spare your life?"

Izuku sighed and looked downward in shame. "Growing up I've always wanted to be a pro hero, but unfortunately I was born without a Quirk. But I've always been a huge fan of pro heroes so I kept a notebook with details of every pro hero's Quirks. So I managed to convince the villains that I could work for them. Afterwards, one of the villains used their Quirk to burn down the police station after another one of the villains used his Quirk to make a body double of me to throw investigators. I managed to escape them and I fled to Naruhata but they tracked me down and brought me back here. They...they also…."

Izuku's voice trailed off. His face was filled with sadness and guilt, and it appeared as if he was on the verge of tears. Yet, Kenji had to press on. So far everything was adding up.

"So, were these same villains responsible for 'The Crawler's' murder?" Kenji asked as he moved a picture to the side to reveal Koichi's decapitated body in the bathroom stall.

Izuku had to suppress the urge to vomit. His blood went cold and his face was drained of its color. All the Quirkless boy could do was nod his head to confirm.

"And they were responsible for these deaths as well?" Kenji moved the picture to the side to reveal the head of Makoto Tsukauichi in the toilet, as well as the charred remains of beloved cosplayer and local Naruhata vigilante hero Pop-Step.

Again, Izuku nodded, but his expression showed just how sick the pictures were making him and his visage was still flushed.

"Were you present during each murder?" Kenji asked him.

Izuku shook his head. "No, I just know because they bragged about it."

"I see," Kenji said. His expression seemed….off to Izuku.

His response as well was a little too flat for his own liking. The Quirkless boy expected the canine man to follow-up with a question that pressed the issue. He already knew that Izuku was present in Naruhata at the time of their deaths, so why hadn't he asked which villains were involved and how they managed to do it?

It didn't make any sense.

"I-I have some information for you, it's extremely urgent. May I have a pen?" Izuku asked.

"Sure," Kenji said as he reached into his pocket and handed Izuku a pen. Izuku then wrote down an address on the manilla folder.

"I managed to break away from them for good once the villains left to enact the next phase of their plan, which was to kidnap one of my closest friends and a student at U.A. named Katsuki Bakugou. They want to recruit him and make him do awful things like they made me do!" Izuku exclaimed.

Kenji's expression turned deathly serious. He immediately stood up from his chair and exited the interrogation room to do what Izuku believed was to inform the Pro Hero agencies as well as the local authorities.

After what felt like an eternity, Kenji entered the interrogation room once more.

"I contacted as many pro hero agencies that I could, including All Might's. They are currently investigating an attack on U.A. that ended with the abduction of Katsuki Bakugou, but rest assured that we will work tirelessly to bring him back home!" Kenji exclaimed to Izuku.

The Quirkless boy smiled brightly in gratitude.

"Thank you, thank you so much. I knew that coming here wouldn't be a mistake."

"Don't thank me just yet," Kenji began to speak.

Izuku gave him an incredulous look.

"In the interest of fairness, I decided to turn the questioning over to a man whom your associates took everything away from. He has gathered more evidence than me and my investigators have and he is very interested in speaking with you."

After Kenji's statement the canine faced Chief Of Police exited the room.

A moment later a man entered a room that made Izuku's blood _truly _turn into ice.

The man that entered the room was Knuckleduster.

* * *

**Surprise update! **

**I promised that I would cut back on the delays so here we are. Normally I would feel kind of bad about ending on a cliffhanger such as this (I think it's cliche and exploitative to end every or most chapters on a cliffhanger) but I figured that it would be a good stopping point. **

**Sometimes when I come back to a story I leave "clues" for myself in the last line or last paragraph of a chapter in order to remind myself of the direction that I planned on taking the chapter that came after it. **

**An example is that the end of Chapter 6 (_"In this world we make our own blessings,") _was a reminder to myself that Izuku would be captured and interrogated because I planned on Detective Tsukauchi reusing that line later in Chapter 11 after he interrogated Izuku ("_You've made your bed, Izuku. I told you before didn't I? In this world we make our own blessings. The same is true for our misfortunes. This is out of my hands.") _It's like leaving a sticky note for yourself. **

**Anyways, just a tip for you aspiring writers out there and an explanation as to why I sometimes hypocritically end off on cliffhangers. **

**There had been some interest in me starting my blog that I mentioned in the previous chapter. As much as I would love to say that I have it up and running, it is simply not ready to launch yet. However I am very grateful for the interest and the kind words that have been given to me to pursue my dream of becoming a full time writer so I will have it finished by the time I post my next chapter. **

**Again, I am eternally grateful for the support and feedback that my story has gotten so far. I do have plans for other stories as well but I don't plan on going into detail about them until the last arc of this story is either beginning or completed. I am very much a "one story at a time" kind of person. If I spread myself too thin then nothing would get done. **

**By the way, this story has two more arcs left (not including this one). **

**As always, please Rate and Review. Any and all feedback is welcomed!**


	23. Peace Loves, Men Kill - IV

Today was the moment for truth.

Knuckleduster would never forget what he had witnessed that dreadful day. The bomb that exploded and took Pop-Step's life. He had hoped that somehow, someway, she had used her Quirk to escape the blast, but the police found charred remains scattered amongst the debris.

And yet, he held on to hope. Koichi must have gotten to the bottom of everything he thought, because that boy never gave up and he was extremely persistent. He was also keen on picking up details that most would miss, so perhaps he had valuable information that he would be willing to share.

It would be unfortunate that Knuckleduster would have to tell his comrade in arms that they had lost their close confidant and partner, but together the two of them could work through it. They could move on.

Then the news hit him.

The coffee shop that Koichi had went to was taped off by police officers. Two bodies were wheeled out of the coffee shop on top of a gurney and sheets were draped over them. Dismay was plastered over Knuckleduster's visage and he barged his way through the yellow tape and demanded that one of the first responders allow him to verify the body.

"But sir we-"

Knuckleduster shoved him out of the way and took a look.

To his horror, it was Koichi's decapitated body, his head had been placed where it _should _have been, but it clearly had been severed from the rest of his body.

It didn't take long for him to realize that if Koichi had been killed at the rendezous point where he was supposed to meet up with Makoto then….

In order to confirm his suspicions, Knuckleduster shoved the first responders out of the way (even the one that attempted to tackle him at his waist) and took a look underneath the sheets of the other gurney.

Unfortunately, he was right.

Makoto had also been decapitated.

Overwhelmed with emotion, Knuckleduster fell onto his knees and banged his fists against the pavement until blood dripped from his knuckles. Although the first responders attempted to bring him onto his feet in order to bandage his hands and escort him off of the premises, Knuckleduster was inconsolable.

And yet, the worst news was yet to come.

Several hours later, the local news reported that the charred remains of a female had been found. A DNA test proved that she was none other than Tamao Oguro….

Knuckleduster's daughter.

The Naruhata Vigilantes knew that Kuin, also known as Queen Bee, used Knuckleduster's daughter as a host. They wanted to extract the bee from her body in order to save her, they would never get the chance...because two of the members were killed, and the host body had been burned alive.

Or so he had thought.

The breaking news was that it was discovered that the remains that had been positively identified as Tamao Oguro, had suffered a death due to strangulation, and not as a result of smoke inhalation or the result of her burns. Furthermore, a vaginal swab found that the female victim had likely been sexually assaulted before she was killed.

The developing story which school the Naruhata Ward to its very core was enough to turn Knuckleduster to the one person who held all the answers….

"Izuku Midoriya."

Knuckleduster's voice was a low growl. His jaws were clenched together as if he was doing everything he could to hold himself back from snapping.

"Tell me everything. Tell me where the bastards responsible are."

Izuku's eyes wandered a bit as he appeared to have been nervous and on edge.

"I...I can't."

_BOOM! _

Knuckleduster slammed his fist on the table with such force that it broke in half and rattled against the floor of the interrogation room. Before Kenji could attempt to diffuse the situation, Knuckleduster picked up a chair and placed it underneath the doorknob so that it could not fully turn to effectively keep Kenji from interfering.

The Naruhata vigilante then took a step forward and picked up Izuku by the collar of his shirt and slammed him against the wall, causing him to yelp in pain.

"Stop playing games with me! Where are they?! Where are the ones responsible?!"

"I-I told you! I d-don't know anything!"

Kenji as well as several other police officers began to bang on the door as hard as they could. From inside Knuckleduster heard Kenji order one of the officers to get a battering ram.

"I don't have time for this!" Knuckleduster placed one hand on Izuku's shoulder and the other on his wrist.

"You have five seconds to tell me something valuable or else I'm breaking your arm."

"What?!"

"One."

"I told you already I don't know-"

"Two."

"You can't do this! Aren't you supposed to be a hero-"

"Three."

From outside of the door, Kenji and his men were prepared to use the battering ram.

"I barely escaped them with my life! Why won't you believe me?!"

"Four."

Kenji and his men used the ram against the door, causing it to fling open with a loud thud.

"Knuckleduster! Stop it!" Kenji called out to him.

"Five-"

"All For One used me as bait!"

There was a slight pause as Knuckleduster released Izuku from his grasp.

"All For One used me as bait to draw the Naruhata Vigilantes out as well as Kuin, but I swear that I didn't know! They change hideouts frequently, so I don't know where All For One is now, but I already told Kenji about their next move!" Izuku spoke frantically and pleadingly. He got on all fours and bowed his head down to the ground.

"Please! That's all I know!"

Knuckleduster seemed satisfied with the answer, but the darkness that shrouded his visage remained ever present nonetheless.

Without uttering another word the Naruhata Vigilante exited the interrogation room, brushing past Kenji as well as the remainder of the officers that had barged in just in time to hear Izuku's confession.

Kenji approached Izuku and placed a sympathetic hand on his shoulder.

"Are you alright?"

Izuku smacked Kenji's hand away before standing up on his own two feet.

"You _knew _about this, didn't you?! Why would you leave me alone with him?!" Izuku snapped.

"No I-"

"I gave you your information already! So leave me alone!" Izuku snarled as he stormed out of the interrogation room, however, Kenji called out to him before he left.

"Where are you going to go? You don't have anywhere to hide and you are being hunted by extremely dangerous villains. Let me enroll you into the witness protection program," Kenji said.

Izuku stopped dead in his tracks. His plan was to use Knuckleduster's harsh interrogation as an excuse to leave and rendezvous with the rest of the League in order to watch All For One's plan blow up in his face. But without reliable transportation he'd never make it.

"Okay," Izuku turned to face Kenji.

"Take me to All Might."

* * *

**Late update I know, I apologize profusely. My new job requires me to travel a lot so I'm away from my fiance and I'm constantly working and I'm on the road. It's been hard but I have to do what's best for her and my unborn child. **

**Very short chapter in comparison to the others but I didn't want to squeeze it in for what's to come next - which will be an all out brawl. Three chapters left until this arc is concluded. **

**Also, I would like to give a couple of brownie points to two of the reviewers. **

** Shadow The Jedi - You are absolutely correct that I used the dialogue between Spider-man and Tony Stark on Homecoming when Izuku was interrogated by Tsukauchi in Chapter 11. Good catch. **

** thisguydavid - And you are correct. The bomb scenario in chapter 18 was a reference to my favorite Detective Conan episode. A shame that I couldn't use my favorite line - "I'll tell you...in the next world."**

**I'll definitely update more frequently now that things have settled down a bit. **

**I'm also happy to announce that my page and my Fanfic blog is up and running!**

It's professorseuss com .wordpress . com [without the spaces]

**It is still under construction but I shall place the link in my profile if I can. I decided that once this story is complete I'll post it in full on my blog and continue to post on primarily. I just honestly love the format of this website. **

**All I ask is that if you wish to donate that I do not wish it to be over $5. Weird request I know, but I'd rather have 100 people donate $5 than 1 person donating $500. I don't want to take advantage of anyone, I just want to write stories that people enjoy and build a cult following at best since my content is very niche. **

**Anyways, thank you so very much for all those who are sticking by this story. Seriously, the amount of positive feedback that I've received has been amazing and it spurs me on every day. **

**More content coming soon!**


	24. Peace Loves, Men Kill - Bonus Chapter

This is what it has been like to be Katsuki Bakugou.

There was one day, one moment, in which everything changed.

That one unsightly character with the chicken legs and the meek demeanor, the one that spoke to you in a timid voice and could barely hold eye contact.

He survived a bullet.

"Go visit him in the hospital, he's your friend isn't he?" That's what Bakugou's mother urged him to do.

Yet Bakugou was far too proud for that.

That little pipsqueak was tough, and it pissed him off. Had he been feigning weakness the whole time? Meanwhile he had been captured by a third-rate villain. Scared and trapped within the confines of a slime monster, unable to break free and slowly suffocating to death….Deku had actually survived a bullet that was inches from ending his life. He not only pulled through, but he made a full recovery. He walked as if nothing had happened, talked as if nothing had happened, and looked as if nothing had happened.

Meanwhile, Katsuki was drowning in a cesspool of vulnerability. He believed with all of his heart and his soul that he was special. His quirk was extremely powerful, a quirk with such raw destructive force had not been seen since Enji Todoroki, also known as Endeavor. He knew nothing but praise, and this positive feedback loop birthed his superiority complex.

Yet, he had been humbled by a slime villain.

Before he could fully process what had happened to him, another blow was struck.

The death of Deku.

He didn't know why it had hit him so hard. At first he chalked it up to shock. Surely it was due to the suddenness of it, and nothing more. With time, he would heal and he would move on.

He could not.

"_Why?!"_

Tears welled up in his eyes.

"_Why am I crying over this?!" _

Would he….miss Deku? Did he care about him?

It was confusing. He didn't know how to make heads or tails of his feelings. So, he lived his life in a haze of sorts. His classmates noticed how somber he was. It was unexpected to say the least. The school bully and bad boy took the death of a boy he tormented harder than anyone else. Some of his classmates turned against him because of this - in their minds they believed that Bakugou simply missed having a punching bag around.

Thus, one of his own lackeys attempted to attack him after class on the school grounds. Perhaps he smelled blood so to speak, he sensed Katsuki's vulnerability and he wanted to be the new top dog. So he pounced on him….

And Katsuki took the beating - like Deku would.

As he laid on the ground bruised, staring up at the wild blue yonder, he couldn't help but ask himself….

"_Did you see that, Deku?" _

He had heard that Deku's mother was in a coma due to an attempted overdose. She was heartbroken, and it was Katsuki's mother that urged him to at least write her a note for well wishes.

"_Sure, I'll do that," _He said. He was never good at being sentimental, but he tried as hard as he could in the memory of a boy that he hated to admit that he missed.

When he entered U.A. it was more of the same really. He lived every day in a fog, and his classmates didn't know what to make of him. He didn't speak much, and his gaze was sullen just a tad. Yet when it came time to compete, he was always fired up. It was as if a switch had been flipped, but as soon as the competition died down, so did his temper.

He found himself becoming closer with certain classmates such as the brash and rambunctious Eijiro, who was fond of Katsuki's own fierce determination in the heat of battle.

Their bond was cemented during an unexpected attack on the school grounds by a group called the League Of Villains. An all powerful beast known as a Nomu ran roughshod on the unsuspecting students, and yet Katsuki stepped up to the plate to give it his all to slow down a beast that he knew was far more powerful than him. Inspired by his determination, Eijiro took a cue from Katsuki and they teamed up to hold off the monster until All Might arrived to save the day.

As the two students laid on the ground badly beaten, bloodied, and bruised, they managed to smile at one another in spite of their shared pain. Or perhaps….it was because of it.

From then on the two of them became inseparable.

There was also an unexpected addition to their brotherhood….

A girl named Ochaco Uraraka.

He noticed that she seemed to hold the two of them in high esteem, almost as if she was in awe of their bond. At first Katsuki found her stares annoying, yet when he fought her at the sports festival he found that she had that same passion to win that he had - and he respected her for it.

Because of that, he went all out on her….

And won.

Eijiro was split on Katsuki's decision to go harsh on her. He felt that a man should never hit a lady, but he also believed that a man should always give it his all. It was quite the conundrum, but Katsuki answered his question for him.

"Would a villain pull their punches on her?"

That was all that was needed to be said.

The final battle was between Katsuki Bakugou and Shoto Todoroki. They were the two favorites, and all eyes were on them. As expected, the battle was fierce. Katsuki's explosion was used in a strategic manner to whittle away Shoto's ice. Even when Shoto went on the defensive and attempted to erect an ice wall, Katsuki countered by using his quirk to accelerate his movement, making him harder to hit.

His goal was to close the distance on Shoto, who was well aware of Katsuki's plan. No side wanted to give an inch, but one miraculous maneuver changed the trajectory of the fight. Katsuki spun around like a top and used his Quirk to enhance his destructive force as well as his terminal velocity. In essence, he turned himself into a makeshift tornado of terrible power. He shredded through Shoto's ice defense like paper mache, but through the torrent of destruction Shoto heard his ferocious classmate snarl at him - "Use your full power!"

Shoto was taken aback.

So Katsuki had known that he held back his true power….

Deep down Shoto wanted to obtain victory, but it would be a hollow one if it came at the cost of his soul. At least, that was how he saw it.

So, he didn't unleash the inferno.

And thus, he lost.

Katsuki was _furious. _

To win like that was no win at all.

He had to be restrained by All Might during the medal ceremony, and a muzzle was placed on his visage. He had been practically frothing at the mouth, but he couldn't help it. Deep down he wanted to be the best, he wanted to win, and for the person that he marked out as his biggest rival to not take their fight seriously rubbed him the wrong way.

Yet, there was a time that he did see it in action.

After the festival Katsuki became an intern to Best Jeanist. He wanted to change Katsuki's "bad boy" image so to speak. He wanted to dress the hot-headed youth akin to his own likeness, and he wanted him to act like a gentleman. Unfortunately, he had been barking up the wrong tree. Katsuki snuck away from him one night, and that was when he ran into the menace that had been plaguing the streets….

Hero Killer Stain.

He was in the middle of hurting another pro hero, but Katsuki intervened. Stain was taken aback at first by Katsuki's offensive fury. The sports festival champion used his explosions to maneuver about the air with minimal effort, and it made him hard to track. Still, Stain had guile and experience on his side, and thus he managed to knick Katsuki with one of his blades.

"I don't like killing kids…." Stain began to say. "...But you have no future as a hero."

Stain liked the blood off of his knife and Katsuki collapsed onto the ground in a heap. He couldn't move, and he didn't know why. Thankfully he was saved in the knock of time by Shoto and Tenya.

Tenya was out for blood since his brother had been hurt by Stain, so he attacked recklessly and he got in the way of Shoto's efforts to support him with long distance ice attacks. Katsuki was enraged at Tenya's lack of composure, so he barked at Shoto to use his ice Quirk in order to separate Tenya from Stain while using his fire Quirk to keep Stain on the defensive. However, Shoto was apprehensive to use his fire Quirk, and finally, Katsuki snapped at him.

"If you won't use your Quirk to save a classmate then what good are you?!"

Those words were the spark that ignited the flame. Finally, he unleashed the full power of his Quirk, and it was just in time too, as Katsuki managed to regain movement. Katsuk's first move was simple - slap some sense into Tenya while Shoto held off Stain. Katsuki grabbed Tenya by his collar and yelled at him at the top of his lungs -

"You're supposed to let _me _be the hot-headed one! Stop trying to make me be the voice of reason!"

And just like that, Tenya snapped out of his stupor.

The trio engaged upon Stain and used a combination attack to bring him down. Shoto used his ice to cool off the radiators on Tenya's legs. While he boosted himself towards Stain, Katsuki fired off an explosion that was akin to nitro to boost Tenya that much further. He then hit Stain across the head with a roundhouse kick. This maneuver, the "Super Recipro Extend", as he called it, was enough to knock Stain out.

Thankfully they managed to put an end to Stain's rampage, and although they were scolded by the Chief Of Police at the hospital the next day, he decided to let them off of the hook for the sake of fairness.

Katsuki had gotten his first taste of being a true hero and he quite enjoyed it. He also learned a valuable lesson, one that he would never admit. It is true that a hero must strive to win - however that doesn't mean that a hero has to win alone.

His classmates saved him, and it didn't hurt his pride nor his ego. In fact, he even thanked them, which shocked them to their core.

"If you tell anyone that I thanked you two you're both dead!" Katsuki barked at Shoto and Tenya.

Still, in the back of his mind he thought about the little pipsqueak that preached about being a hero and how Katsuki was nothing more than a bully.

"_If you keep picking on people, then I'll never forgive you!" _

_Tch!_ Katsuki wiped the unpleasant memory from his mind.

"_I did what you would do. So do you forgive me now?" _

Asking for forgiveness from his deceased friend.

That was what it was like to be Katsuki Bakugou.

* * *

**Bonus chapter! Originally I wanted to include this within the climax, but I thought that it would be inappropriate. Consider this a gift of sorts, as the characterization of Bakugou was a pretty important thing for me to cover, at least in my opinion, since it will set up what is to come later on down the road. This chapter might be the only one of its kind, but if you would like more "bonus" chapters then please let me know. **

**That aside, work has been great even with the hectic shutdown. I was gone for a little over a month but now I will finally be returning home to spend time with my fiance. Again if you would like to support my work you can check my profile which has a link to my blog site. If you have any issues getting to it then let me know. **

**Again, thank you so much for the comments and reviews/critiques of my work. It encourages me to keep going and to one day write the novel that I have planned on finishing.**

**Next chapter will be the climax of the arc and the turning point of the story. **

**Stay tuned!**


	25. Peace Loves, Men Kill - V

Izuku rode in the passenger seat of Kenji's patrol car. Throughout the drive he could hear Kenji's radio give live updates on the villain attack. Apparently, class 1-A and 1-B were in a forest lodge for training before Tomura and the rest of the League decided to crash their little training exercise.

Along the way there were various reports on the state and welfare of the students. Thankfully (at least to Kenji), none of the injuries that any of the students sustained were serious or fatal. Still, he was worried that reinforcements hadn't arrived yet to aid the students in their time of need. The police were told to establish a perimeter to allow the students to escape and to aid the wounded and to keep the villains contained within it.

"How far away are we now?" Izuku asked. He tried his best to sound concerned rather than impatient.

"About a half an hour away give or take," Kenji said. It was hard for Izuku to tell because they still hadn't even left the Tokyo city limits yet, but it wasn't long before they were finally headed off road.

But that was when Kenji's radio was flooded with reports of the winner of the sports festival, Bakugou, narrowly defeating a villain in single combat, an extremely powerful and dangerous killer named Muscular. There were many eye witnesses to the ferocious battle, since Bakugou bravely entered the fray to fight in spite of knowing that the villains had arrived to kidnap him. In his weakened state his classmates attempted to protect him, but he was captured by a villain that managed to transform Bakugou into a small, marble-like object.

Izuku figured that one of Tomura's new recruits must have done it. What was his name again?

_Mr. Compress. _

Yea, that was it. That was an impressive feat even if it was against a severely weakened Bakugou. He was never one to go down without a fight.

Yet the most startling report of all came when a frantic police officer exclaimed over the radio that….

"The heroes have arrived!"

A sinister grin crept up on Izuku's visage.

Kenji pressed on the gas pedal.

* * *

The training ground had turned into a war zone.

And one particular man was _most _displeased.

"This just will not do."

When he arrived at the training forest, he witnessed beautiful carnage and wonderful mayhem. It was a beautiful tapestry of bloodshed. The symphony of screams were akin to an opera to him, and it was most magnificent.

But then, those abominable heroes showed up and ruined the show.

Tomura and the rest of the League had come close to finishing their objective. Mr. Compress used his Quirk to compress Bakugou into a spherical object, and the group had nearly made it out of the forest.

Nearly.

Kurogiri was suddenly blindsided by an extremely quick sting to the back of his neck, courtesy of the slippery hero known as Edgeshot and his versatile Quirk - Foldabody. The stealthy shinobi managed to ambush the unsuspecting villains as they attempted to scramble to safety. But little did they know, the pro hero led them into a trap.

"Kamui Woods!"

Edgeshot shouted, and just as suddenly as the villains heard his name did the guileful pro hero appear from the dark void of the forest and entrench himself within the Earth. He dug his fists into the ground and summoned a swarm of vines from the ground which trapped the unsuspecting villains within a cage of wood.

"The targets have been captured."

A burst of flame spewed forth and illuminated the dark forest. It encircled the makeshift wooden cage so that the villains wouldn't attempt to burst through their prison - if they were even capable of doing so.

"Endeavor!" Tomura hissed.

It was indeed the number two hero, standing triumphantly alongside Kamui Woods and Edgeshot.

"Release the boy at once, or you will all be burned to cinders."

If any other pro hero were to make such a threat, a villain would assume that the said hero was bluffing. However, due to Endeavor's reputation, the League had to take his threat seriously - Endeavor stopped at nothing to achieve his goals, even if it meant that he could possibly harm an innocent bystander or a hostage.

Well, that was what his reputation suggested.

"Damn!" Tomura cursed.

"Damn! Damn! Damn!" How did they react so quickly? Had they been betrayed? By whom? Who else knew about their plan that wasn't present?

Who was the Judas?

"Compress! Give him the kid!"

"R-Right!" Mr. Compress tossed a red sphere towards Endeavor, who caught it in his hand. Once he placed the sphere back on the ground, it began to glow with a white light and after a moment had passed, it released Bakugou who materialized on the ground in a sitting position. At first he appeared confused, but after he looked around and saw Endeavor along with Kamui Woods and Edgeshot, as well as the villains in their wooden cage surrounded by a ring of fire, the only proper conclusion to make was that he had been saved.

"I guess I should thank you," Bakugou muttered faintly, only Endeavor could hear him. "Even though I had it under control."

Endeavor scoffed at the boy's statement. But then he turned to him and gave him a smirk. "You remind me a lot of myself."

"Tch, I've heard that one before," Bakugou said as he stood up onto his feet.

A team of paramedics arrived at the scene to escort Bakugou to safety as well as to treat his wounds. Law enforcement began to close in on the scene, clearing check points and tightening the perimeter ever so closely until the villains had nowhere out.

This appeared to have been the end for the League Of Villains.

This.

Would.

Not.

Do.

A dark figure of tall stature dressed in a black suit that was darker than the grim reaper's cloak descended from the sky like an angel of darkness. His face was unrecognizable, marred and scarred from his previous bout with the number one hero, All Might.

Civilians looked up at him with a pale face, and the pro heroes that were present, Endeavor, Edgeshot, and Kamui Woods looked on with trepidation plastered upon their visage.

The man, the boogieman that every pro hero told stories about, the only villain to push All Might to his limits and beyond, had appeared once more. He was in hiding for so long that most assumed that he had keeled over and died of old age.

Yet here he was, in the flesh.

Police drew their weapons and opened fire, but the fabled villain scoffed at their futile efforts as the bullets ricocheted off of him like paper mache.

"Gnats."

With one fell swoop of his hand, All For One summoned a gust of wind that sent a half dozen police officers flying backwards. If it wasn't for the quick thinking of Mt. Lady, who increased her size in order to safely catch the officers, the fall would have most certainly killed them.

"Hold your fire!" Endeavor ordered the remainder of the police force. "This isn't your fight! Fall back!"

The police force did as they were told knowing that this fight was far beyond their capabilities. Mt. Lady continued to escort the police and any student stragglers that she had found outside of the perimeter of what could be the final battle between the heroes and the League Of Villains.

Inside of the wooden cage the remainder of the League began to feel a sense of relief at the sight of their great leader, All For One. Tomura in particular was delighted to see him in action.

But unfortunately, he wouldn't get the chance.

Up close anyways.

Suddenly those trapped inside of the wooden cage began to convulse. Black gunk oozed from their mouth until it enveloped their very being into complete nothingness. The heroes were in shock at what they had witnessed, and Endeavor gritted his teeth in frustration.

Damn! They were so close! They had the entire League in the palm of their hands and they let them slip away in an instant!

"Now then," All For One began to say as he dusted off his pristine three piece suit. "Shall we begin?"

* * *

Kenji's police car arrived on the scene. He was immediately greeted by the triage officer who rattled off a list of updates to the canine officer as he stepped from out of his vehicle.

"So Endeavor, Edgeshot, and Kamui Woods are locked in battle right now with All For One?" Kenji asked. The triage officer nodded his head in confirmation.

"And the rest of the League escaped? How?"

Izuku perked a brow at this update.

"We don't know sir, but it seems that All For One somehow teleported them away."

Kenji placed his hand beneath his chin in thought. He then turned to Izuku and asked, "Do you have any idea where he'd teleport them to?"

Izuku shrugged. "Maybe their headquarters." . :

"We already have men positioned outside of their HQ sir, and I was just told moments ago that they have not sighted any of the villains there," The triage officer said.

"It seems that they have played their hand well," Kenji began to say. Still, he seemed rather confident.

"But we have aces of our own."

Both Izuku and the triage officer gave Kenji an incredulous look.

_Aces? _Izuku began to think. If he had to guess, then All Might would be one of the aces. So, who would the other aces be?

"Take me to the triage station," Kenji requested.

"Right away sir," the officer complied.

"You too," Kenji said to Izuku.

"I'll be fine here," Izuku said. He was adamant about remaining behind, because he knew that there would be….certain characters that he didn't want to see at the triage station. But unfortunately for him, it seemed that Kenji was reluctant to budge an inch.

"I insist. I must assure your safety," Kenji said.

Izuku sighed and followed Kenji towards the triage station, which was part of the perimeter that the police officers and the paramedics as well as the first responders established to assume safe passage for any of the emergency workers, as well as the civilians that may have been present and the pro heroes as well.

It was extremely crowded with civilians and reporters alike attempting to gander past in order to witness the battle that was taking place. They were praying, literally, praying for the heroes to win, and Izuku couldn't blame them for doing so. It was time for All For One to get what he had coming to him. All of his machinations, all of the events that he had set in motion in order to recruit Izuku into the League Of Villains would, ironically, result in his own demise by the very same boy he so desperately wanted to bring into his fold.

The reason why the pro heroes were fighting him in the first place was due to Izuku setting the events in motion by informing the police of their plan. Finally, justice would be served.

"D-Deku?"

Izuku turned to hear an all too familiar voice call his name. It was a blonde haired boy with piercing red eyes wrapped in bandages from his battle with the villain known as Muscular. He approached Izuku with wide eyes, appearing as if he had seen a ghost.

He was also Izuku's childhood "friend".

"K-Kaachan?"

Suddenly the ground shook, causing them and everyone else within the vicinity to lose their footing.

What in the world was going on?

* * *

"Do you truly believe that you have what it takes to stand against me?" All For One released a blast of wind from the palm of his hand. The shockwave managed to blow Endeavor onto his back, but Edgeshot and Kamui Woods were nimble enough to escape the radius of it just in the nick of time.

"I think it is about time we finish this-"

"**All For One!" **

From out of the sky like a meteorite headed for the Earth's surface came the famed masked vigilante of the Naruhata Ward. He had his right fist reared back and ready to land a devastating blow to All For One's visage.

And he did just that.

The force of his blow knocked All For One out of the sky and onto the ground with such force that it created a human sized crater on the ground. The earth beneath shook violently from the blow, and the three pro heroes could only look on with astonishment at what they had just witnessed.

All For One was motionless on the ground, so the pro heroes assumed that it was safe to speak as they approached his body.

"What took you so long?" Endeavor asked Knuckleduster.

"My ride was late, you know how he gets," Knuckleduster responded.

Endeavor looked up into the night sky. From his vantage point, he couldn't see him.

"He's still flying in circles up there?" Endeavor asked.

"Yep, he insisted on keeping a bird's eye of view," Knuckleduster told him.

"Hmph, he's just lazy," Endeavor scoffed.

Kamui Woods began to build a wooden cage around All For One's body, however, All For One's finger twitched, and Knuckleduster immediately knew that they had fallen for his trap.

"Everyone get ba-"

But it was too late.

Knuckleduster, Endeavor, Edgeshot, and Kamui Woods all collapsed onto the ground in a heap, each felled by a single strike to the back of their necks quicker than the eye could see.

All For One stood over their bodies and cracked his neck with his hand.

"Overclock. A quirk that accelerates the user's brain perceptions to superhuman levels, making the world appear to be moving in slow motion. I had forgotten about the Quirk I had stolen from you until your face reminded me of it, Iwao."

"Or should I say, Knuckleduster."

All For One approached the pro heroes's unconscious bodies and placed his hand over them. Before he could finish them off with his Air Cannon however, their bodies miraculously floated into the air and sped out of view towards the triage station.

On closer inspection, it was no miracle at all. The pro heroes had been pulled by the fabric of their clothes and it was tied off with denim fabric and interwoven together so that the force of the pull wouldn't cause it to snap.

Such proficiency could only be the work of none other than Best Jeanist.

"You take it from here…."

A large burly man with a physique that some considered to be the greatest to have ever been witnessed, dressed in his "golden age" hero uniform stepped onto the scene with a fierce look of determination.

"All Might!"

"It has been a long time, Toshinori."

"Not long enough, Shigaraki."

"Let's skip the pleasantries, and go right into it, shall we?"

All For One said as his right arm began to expand and grow in a grotesque fashion.

"My thoughts exactly!" All Might roared as he began to summon all of the power that he had left within him. Although he had passed his Quirk on to a worthy successor, and what remained of his own power were embers of a once raging inferno, he truly believed in his heart of hearts that if he dug deep enough within himself that he could defeat All For One with one final blow.

"Before we begin I must inform you that I know that you have an ace in the sky, watching us all like a hawk. Regardless, I will still tell you my little secret-"

"My _true _successor shall be your undoing!"

"_True _successor?"

"You shall face him soon enough. Just know that it was thanks to your weakness that he fell right into my hands, Toshinori!"

Springlike limbs, Kinetic Booster times four, Strength Enhancer times three, Multiplier, Hypertrophy, Airwalk, and Spearlike bones.

Those were the ultimate combination of Quirks that All For One had at his disposal.

"Let us end this, Toshinori!"

"Farewell, All For One!"

Both behemoths clashed, their fists generated an explosion that caused the trees around them to become uprooted. A crater the size of a fallen meteor scarred the Earth's crust and gale force winds blew everyone and everything within a twenty mile radius away.

"United States Of Smash!"

* * *

Back at the triage station, the onlookers managed to regain their bearings after the sudden aftershock knocked them off of their feet. When Izuku stood back up, he locked eyes with Katsuki once more.

For a while they didn't say anything at all, that was, until Eijiro and Ochaco, who had came to check up on Bakugou were awestruck upon looking at Izuku.

"Hey, aren't you-"

Gale force winds summoned from the confrontation between All Might and All For One sent the pedestrians backwards, with some almost flying off into the sky until they were saved by Mt. Lady and Best Jeanist with the use of their Quirks.

As Izuku rose to his feet once more, he realized that Bakugou of all people came to check up on him. Why was he acting so _kind _all of a sudden?

"Deku…" Bakugou was at a loss of words. There was only one question that kept constantly flooding his mind.

"How? How are you still alive?"

"I-" Izuku was suddenly hit with an unexplainable urge to vomit. He doubled over and when he opened his mouth black miasma spewed out of it and encased his body.

Bakugou frantically tried to do something, _anything _to free him, but nothing was working.

"Help! Someone! Please! Help!" He roared in desperation. Eijiro and Ochaco both tried to help him free Izuku but it was as if their fingers slipped right through him. By the time Kenji arrived with Best Jeanist as well as a revitalized Kamui Woods and Edgeshot, it was too late.

Izuku was gone.

Bakugou fell down onto his knees and roared a gut wrenching cry as he slammed both of his fists onto the ground.

* * *

Izuku landed on the ground at an undisclosed location and began to hack and cough. He would never get used to that disturbing Quirk it seemed, especially since it always caught him off guard.

When the Quirkless boy looked up he saw a television monitor mounted on the wall with breaking news flashing on the bottom of the screen. It seemed that he was in a sports bar of some sort, and those who were sitting at the bar by the television were the League Of Villains.

At least, what was left of them anyways.

Kurogiri, Dabi, Mr. Compress, Tomura, Twice, and Spinner were all present.

Magne, Moonfish, Mustard, and Muscular had all been arrested.

What a shame.

The rest of the League were deathly silent as they stared at the news telecast in disbelief. In one mighty blow, All Might managed to defeat All For One, once and for all.

Tomura slammed his fist onto the table and stood up to turn around and face Izuku.

"The heroes knew where we were going to strike and _when _we were going to strike! Not only that, but they also knew where our headquarters were!" Tomura took his glove off of his hand and began to approach Izuku.

"Izuku…."

He continued to walk towards him.

"Did you betray All For One?!"

* * *

**Finally, the climax of the arc and (perhaps) the climax of the entire story. I can't believe it's been over a year since I started this story. **

**First, I would like to say that I am doing well, my fiance is doing well, and I found out that we're having a beautiful baby girl! I can't wait to meet her, so most of my days has been unboxing all of the packages that my mom sent me and my fiance (she went overboard) and putting this new crib together that we got. We practically have an entire nursery already. **

**I would also like to thank the user who subrscribed to my blog! It's not finished yet, but that one subscription alone was enough to rejuvinate me. I will hold on to this feeling as long as I am alive. **

**Also, a quick shoutout to bauers374 for catching the MLK reference. I had actually forgotten that I written that in there, so when you mentioned it in your review comment I was reminded of it and had to give you a shoutout for it. **

**I hope you all enjoyed the chapter, because things will get even crazier from here on out. **

**Also, a question**

**1) Who do you think is the pro hero watching from the sky?**


	26. Peace Loves, Men Kill - VI

Izuku busted into a hysterical state of laughter. It was raw, unhinged, and unyielding laughter. His voice filled the bar and it reverberated against the walls, further irritating Tomura until a vein protruded from his forehead.

"I will take that as a yes!"

Tomura charged directly towards Izuku, who continued his maniacal laughter. However, before he could make contact with him, Toga suddenly appeared to Izuku's side and wrapped both of her arms around him. In one quick motion she managed to move him and herself out of harm's way with a tackle that turned into a harmless barrel roll across the ground.

Izuku continued to laugh, and Toga helped him onto his feet and began to dust off his clothes.

"Toga, what are you doing?!" Tomura snapped at her.

"Wait Tomura!" Twice shouted.

"Fight to the death!" Twice also shouted.

Izuku's laughter died down as he scanned the room. Kurogiri remained motionless, his expression was unreadable as always. Dabi appeared to have been remarkably unphased and unbothered, he seemed almost _bored. _But he had always been the most difficult member from the League Of Villains to read. Where did his loyalties lie?

Mr. Compress and Spinner both stood out of their seats and postured in Izuku's direction. They awaited Tomura's orders no doubt. Spinner had a hand shading the hilt of one of his katana blades, and Mr. Compress sulked along the perimeter, but he made sure not to stray too far from Tomura's vantage point.

Twice seemed rather conflicted, to say the least. He didn't want to see his fellow League members tear each other apart, but he also was willing to allow "justice" be carried out on Izuku if he was found guilty of betraying All For One.

Fortunately for Izuku, everything that had occurred up until this point had been by his design, so he already knew what card to play in his hand.

"Am I the only one who noticed it? Really? This is rich!" Izuku chuckled.

"What's so damn funny?!" Tomura spat at Izuku, his tone dripped with potent venom.

"Isn't it obvious? All For One _wanted _to be captured! It's a message!" Izuku exclaimed.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Dabi sneak a glance at him before turning his attention back to the television monitor.

"What?! If All For One had a plan like that then I would have known about it! Do you really think that-"

Izuku wagged his finger at Tomura.

"Poor Tomura, unable to pick up on context clues?" Izuku mocked him in a sing-song voice. If looks could kill, then Tomura's glare would have struck the quirkless boy dead on the spot.

"While you were out on your useless excursion, I gathered valuable clues at the police station headquarters in Tokyo. I even spoke with the Chief Of Police himself, Kenji Tsuragamae."

"So? I already know who the Chief Of Police is, why would that matter to me? It's a public record. And what clues could you have picked up at the police station?"

"So...I know how to get to him. I have the entire layout memorized. It wouldn't be hard for us to capture Kenji and initiate a hostage exchange."

Tomura was taken aback by Izuku's plan.

"A hostage exchange?"

Izuku nodded his head.

"The city's beloved Chief Of Police in exchange for All For One."

"And what if they don't accept our deal?"

"Then we ask them to please kindly release another prisoner for us, or we kill him. Is that a simple enough plan for you to follow?"

Tomura's gaze softened, as if he had been enlightened. He finally understood the mind of the boy that stood before him. He was cunning, calculating, and shrewd. His mind was maniacal, and he thought several steps ahead. The boy was sharp.

But he was also clinically insane.

His plan was devious, but it didn't make any sense. All For One would _want _to be captured to be _exchanged? _That didn't make any _sense_. No, this kid was lying. He must have tipped the police off while he was at the station, that's why the pro heroes's response time was as quick as it was.

"You're insane, and I don't know what All For One saw in you," Tomura stated in a matter of fact manner.

"Spinner! Compress!" Tomura shouted their names and they were immediately on the move. Spinner drew his katana blade and jumped high into the air, ready to strike down Izuku who was being guarded by Toga, the femme fatale armed with a butcher knife.

Mr. Compress attempted to move in from the rear in order to sneak up on Izuku from behind, all the while Twice was screaming in the background, roaring for them to cease and desist, and to tear each other apart at the same time.

Suddenly, a pillar of blue flames emerged around Izuku and Toga to erect a makeshift barrier around them, forcing Spinner and Mr. Compress to back off lest they get burned alive and die in agony.

"Tomura," Dabi stood up from his chair, his expression was the same as ever, a mix of boredom and impassiveness, yet there was a glint of curiosity in his eyes, as well as realization. He had been following along what Izuku had said and he had put all the pieces together for himself.

"Shut up for a moment."

Tomura was vexed, but before he could attempt to move another finger, azure flames encircled him and spewed forth from the ground, forcing him to stay within the confines of it.

"You," Dabi turned to face Izuku, his emerald irises were absent of any and all discernible emotions.

"You betrayed All For One." It wasn't a question, it was a statement.

Izuku raised both of his arms up in jest. "Guilty as charged."

"You little-" The flames around Tomura grew more intense and closed in on him ever so slightly.

"Shut up," Dabi said once more without turning to face him.

"All For One recruited you, but he destroyed your life in order to do it," Dabi spoke plainly.

Izuku nodded his head in affirmation. "Guilty on both counts."

"Oh snap!" Twice shouted.

"I knew it all along!" Twice also shouted.

"Toga, you knew about this too, why didn't you tell me?" Dabi asked her. His facial expression feigned hurt.

Toga smiled at him sheepishly.

"I'm sorry! It slipped my mind!"

"Regardless, I knew something was fishy the day that All For One had his sights set on you. Everything happened too sudden to be mere coincidence, I'm honestly surprised that you hadn't figured it out sooner, but maybe it was easier for me to tell since I was on the outside looking in ," Dabi mused.

Izuku was, to say the least, shocked yet he was also extremely pleased. Dabi rarely spoke, if at all, but he was so observant! He knew how to read people too, and how to read a room and control a situation. Izuku knew that he _had _to recruit him by any means necessary.

It was a mere chance that Dabi stepped in when he did, but he figured that _someone _would. Most likely Kurogiri, but for it to have been _Dabi_, well, it was perfect. It was a rare moment for the two of them to come to an understanding.

"With that said, you're lying about your plan aren't you? You don't really want to release All For One, do you?"

So, he could see through him.

"No, my plan was to use Kenji's hostage negotiation as a distraction while we broke inside of Tartarus and released the most terrifying villain of all….Stain."

Dabi's expression flashed with surprise before flickering back to their normal expressionless state.

That was it, that was his bargaining chip.

Izuku also saw it in the way Spinner relaxed his muscles and stood attentively.

There was one person that Dabi admired, and that person was Hero Killer Stain.

Izuku regretted how poorly Tomura mishandled him. Stain could have been an invaluable ally, but his potential was squandered instead. It was a waste, but it wasn't a wrong that could not be righted by more capable hands.

He knew that there would be at least one member of the League who shared his sentiments. Stain was an extremely polarizing figure, and he inspired many. Tomura was jealous of him, but Izuku saw an opportunity.

"I see," The blue flames that encircled Tomura dispersed into harmless embers that harmlessly flickered out on the wooden panels of the sports bar. The fire that surrounded Izuku and Toga had also dissipated.

"Kurogiri, what is the worst case scenario in all of this?" Dabi asked him.

Kurogiri took a moment to think before answering.

"Izuku successfully captures Kenji Tsuragamae, but fails to negotiate an exchange. Instead, they double down on not negotiating, and his distraction fails. Thus, when he attempts to break the Hero Killer Stain out of Tartarus, he along with the remainder of the League are captured."

Dabi shook his head.

"Wrong. The worst case scenario would be that we all die, and the League Of Villains flame out before we ever reach our peak. What you described would be pleasant by comparison," Dabi said.

"I don't care one way or another, but even I can tell that All For One fought All Might so that the League could remain intact. He also must have known that what he did to Izuku would bite him in the ass one day, otherwise he let a little boy out think him, in which case that wouldn't make him much of a 'Symbol Of Evil.'"

Tomura became visibly flustered by Dabi's statement. Did All For One _really _get captured on purpose? Was he truly outfoxed by a quirkless pipsqueak like Izuku?

"So, let's all make our decision now. And then we go our own separate ways. Got it?"

Toga wrapped her arms around Izuku's neck and clung to his body like a schoolgirl drunk on the love of her first crush. Her allegiance was never in doubt.

Spinner remained silent, but he slowly began to walk towards Izuku's side. Even though he had yet to speak, his silence still spoke volumes. There was one man that he admired as well - and it was Stain. Well, one could tell by his militant attire and his flowing red scarf that Stain similarly wore.

Dabi made his way towards Izuku, meanwhile Mr. Compress began to circle back around to Tomura's side, but Kurogiri remained where he was.

"I am a neutral party, but consider this bar to be a safe haven for any of you to come back to should you need to. I only ask that if any of you were to cross paths here to please abstain from fighting, or else I will be forced to warp you out of the premises."

Tomura was beside himself. He felt betrayed, he and All For One took every single one of these low lives into their fold and this was how they repaid them?!

One day, there will be hell to pay.

But that day wouldn't be today.

"You're all a disgrace to the League," Tomura spat. "And that boy won't lead you anywhere but to your graves, if you're lucky," He began to walk towards the exit, and Mr. Compress followed suit, but before he left he turned to speak to the remainder of his, now former, allies.

"It was fun performing with you lot, unfortunately the show was stopped before we could reach the grand finale. I do hope that we can all collaborate on another project together. But for now I must bid you adieu," And with those words, Mr. Compress made his exit.

There was a moment of silence before everyone turned their attention to Twice.

"Can't I just stay here and do nothing?"

"I would love to help out in any way that I can!"

"So it's decided, Twice you're with us."

Well, this development could not have played out any better in Izuku's eyes. Tomura is gone, although he will surely return, his threat level for the time being is negligible at best. He wasn't nearly as resourceful as Izuku believed himself to be, but it was unfortunate that he took Mr. Compress along with him. Still, now he could move on with the next phase of his plan.

"So _bad boy_, where should we go next?" Toga asked him.

"Didn't you hear Kurogiri? This is our new headquarters," Izuku said. He approached the bar and sat down on one of the bar stools. The rest followed his lead and took a seat near him, meanwhile Dabi leaned against the bar and Kurogiri began to sweep in the background for upkeep purposes.

"Now," Izuku rotated his bar stool so that he was facing the rest of the group.

"I am not your leader, consider me an advisor. If my life becomes endangered then that would be insignificant in the grand scheme. What we represent must never die, that would be the greatest travesty of all." Izuku's expression darkened as he recalled when he was left bleeding out all alone, with no police officer or pro hero in sight.

"Wherever heroes go they must be reminded of the shadows that lurk behind every alley, and between every crease and crevice. Injustices are being done right in their own backyards, but they will never notice them because the system is broken. But we will remind them that there is no rest for the wicked.

And that, in essence, is the Idea Of Evil. And this is an ideology that must never die. Our goal isn't to keep any particular member alive, but the Idea, never forget that."

* * *

**Surprise update! **

**First of all I would like to thank kaine541204 for his (or her) awesome review!**

**Unfortunately I can't delve too deep into your critiques without spoiling what's to come, but just know that I have kept your critiques in mind long ago and the pacing as well as the dynamics of the story will elevate along with the stakes as we move on. I'm still somewhat setting the stage so to speak, as we haven't reached the climax of the overall story yet. **

**I encourage everyone to comment and review your honest opinions, it really motivates me and keeps me going.**

**Thank you very much and please be safe out there!**


	27. Peace Loves, Men Kill VII

Tomura and Mr. Compress entered an abandoned warehouse that was situated near the far side of town. It was grungy and ran down, but it was sentimental. After all, it was the same building All For One used for recovery purposes. His chair, which resembled a throne, was situated in the middle while several medical devices were scattered along beside it.

This would be the new headquarters for the League Of Villains.

The League would not die, instead it would be reborn stronger than ever before.

Tomura sat upon the seat that All For One had previously occupied and felt as if it was a hand and glove fit. He visualized dozens of loyal soldiers, followers and subjects standing before him and awaiting his command. Those who proved their loyalty would be at the forefront, and his soldiers would be armed and ready to wage war on all pro heroes and their supporters.

"The chair suits you," Mr. Compress complimented him. He turned to survey their surroundings and appraise the room.

"Why, we could turn this into a throne room," He added.

Tomura did not respond, for they were already on the same page. It seemed that the two of them clicked in a way that he honestly had not anticipated. Yet, he felt the same about Kurogiri, as well as Twice. It made him wonder….

"Compress," Tomura began to speak. "Tell me the truth. Why did you choose to follow me?"

Mr. Compress turned back around to face him. His expression was unreadable due to his mask, yet Tomura knew that he was searching for the right words to say instead of speaking his mind.

"Speak freely," Tomura urged him.

"Well," Mr. Compress started. "I went with my gut, and my gut told me to follow you. My instincts have served me well so far, so why stop now?"

Tomura narrowed his eyes at him. His glare was a menacing one, and it would cause most people to buckle under the pressure.

"I thought I told you to speak freely," Tomura reiterated.

"That boy, something is off about him. He is dangerous, yet not in the conventional manner. He is a danger to all whom he comes in contact with."

Tomura said nothing, yet he remained in deep thought.

"To put it simply," Mr. Compress continued, "He is not just the enemy of pro heroes, or the enemy of villains, but he is the enemy of all of mankind."

Tomura scoffed. A boy without a Quirk was dubbed the largest threat known to man. What a joke. But perhaps that's what made him so dangerous. Pro heroes all but turned a blind eye to petty crimes, much like how the people turned a blind eye to his own suffering and expected a pro hero to take care of him.

Perhaps he and Izuku shared similar backgrounds. Both of them were failed by pro heroes and society as a whole in their time of need. However, there was a distinct difference between the two. Aside from All For One's machinations being the cause for Izuku's misfortunes, the boy used what he had gone through as an excuse to terrorize everyone. He had no moral code, and it was only a matter of time before he turned on his very own followers to suit his own agenda - whatever that may be.

And therein lied his weakness.

"He is insane," Tomura said. Before when he called him insane, he spoke in a condescending tone. Now however, he took pity on him. "Yet, his insanity seeks solace. That's why he allows Toga to cling to him."

Mr. Compress nodded his head in understanding. He was able to follow Tomura's logic, and thus, he was able to put the pieces together himself.

"Deep down, he is afraid of telling a joke, and being the only person in the room who laughs."

A sinister smile crept up on Tomura's visage.

"Precisely. We shall build our forces and allow him to weaken the pro heroes for us. Then, we will attack him when he least suspects it. And when his back is against the wall, he will reveal his true colors to his followers, by then it will be too late for them all."

* * *

Katsuki was in a daze.

He couldn't believe that Deku-no, that _Izuku_ had been alive this entire time. He thought that he had died, but he was wrong. Yet, just like that, he was taken away from him in the blink of an eye.

And there was nothing he could do about it.

He was often praised for the potency of his quirk as well as his resourcefulness and his guile in combat. But, no matter how much stronger he had gotten, he had still failed to save a friend when he needed him the most.

It was no different than when he was captured by that disgusting slime villain. The pro heroes at the scene praised him and his Quirk, but he was far too weak to save himself. All his life he was told how special he was, how he was destined for great things, and there was a point in time when it fed his ego.

So why did he feel so weak?

The fiery youth barely listened to his instructor, Shota, explain why he had to attend a meeting in order to decide the future of U.A. and thus would give the class recess for the day. He was just glad that he would be given time to think.

Eijiro attempted to hold a conversation with him on several different occasions, but all Katsuki could regard him with were half-baked responses of acknowledgement.

"Hey, are you listening to me?!" Eijiro stepped in front of Katsuki. The two close friends had been walking off campus towards the direction of their respective homes, but it appeared as if the spiky haired blonde had been day dreaming the entire time.

"What is it? You're noisy…" Katsuki said.

"And you're not paying attention!" Eijiro fired back at him.

There was a slight pause, and Eijiro sighed as his expression changed to that of concern.

"You've barely said two words to anyone all day. Even after Shota said that the meeting he was going to attend could end with U.A. shutting down, you didn't even bat an eyelash. Is this about-" Eijiro didn't want to say it since it was a sensitive subject, but he didn't have to finish his statement to get his point across.

Katsuki stared daggers at him, and he _dared _Eijiro to finish his thought. But just as quickly as his visage had changed, it reverted back to that of a more gloomy disposition. The scene replayed in his head over and over again. Him desperately attempting to rescue a friend that he believed to have been dead. He could see the surprise and the horror in Izuku's eyes, but there was nothing he could do. Katsuki couldn't use his quirk and risk hurting Izuku in the process, so all he could do was watch him vanish.

A sickening feeling curdled within the pit of his stomach.

"Hey, Eijiro," Katsuki began to speak with a downcast expression. "What good is a Quirk that can't save a friend?"

"Don't blame yourself!" Eijiro snapped at him. "Don't do that to yourself! That's not fair, no one expects you to save everyone-"

"He's not just _anyone_!" Katsuki snapped back at him. His teeth were gritted together and his face was twisted in a bundle of self-loathing and rage. He was hurting on two fronts - on one hand he had to acknowledge his inability to save a very close friend when he needed him the most, and on the other he had to acknowledge his weakness in doing so. It was a very, very tough pill to swallow to say the least.

"Right now he's probably being tortured by the same villains that came after me! And there's nothing I can do about it!" Katsuki stared at his hands with utter disgust before he then clenched his fists as his frustration continued to mount.

"I failed when it mattered the most, and now I have to atone for it."

Katsuki walked past Eijiro, who called out his name and asked him where he was going, but Katsuki simply told him to go home, and that he'd call him tomorrow.

The spiky haired blonde made his way towards the hospital and entered the intensive care unit where upon arrival he was greeted by a nurse that gave him a jovial smile.

"Back again?" She asked him.

Katsuki nodded his head and signed into the visitors log book. The nurse then escorted him to the patient room.

"Mrs. Midoriya has been doing well and is on the road to recovery. She seems to respond well to people talking to her," The nurse said.

Katsuki simply gave her a nod as he stepped inside the patient room and took a seat near the bed.

"Come get me if you need anything," The nurse said as she closed the door behind herself.

Katsuki saw that no one had sent her a letter or a get well card since he last did so, which in turn made him feel guilty.

_"If I could have saved Izuku, then he would be here to give you all of the love and support that you need."_ Katsuki thought.

He leaned forward into his seat and clasped his hands together, then he took in a deep breath as he prepared himself to say the hardest thing that he ever had to say in his entire life.

"I'm sorry," Katsuki said.

That was all it took for tears to well inside his eyes.

"I-I'm so sorry….I'm sorry that I couldn't save your son, I'm sorry for being too weak, I'm…." The tears kept coming, so Katsuki tried his best to wipe them all away. It was as if a dam had been broken, and so the flood came.

It took several moments for him to regain his composure. Look at him, turning into a crybaby. What would Izuku think of him now? Would he even believe him if he told him that he changed? Well, maybe not _completely,_ but he wasn't the same person that he was before, that was for certain.

"I'm going to bring him back, I promise," Katsuki said.

Suddenly there was a knock on the door, and the same nurse that escorted Katsuki to the room entered with a letter inside of an envelope.

"I have a letter for Mrs. Midoriya," She said as she handed it over to Katsuki.

"You should read it to her whenever you get the chance, I'm sure that she'll appreciate it."

The nurse then stepped out of the room and closed the door behind herself once more.

Katsuki wiped his eyes and saw that the envelope was sent from the United States. It was strange to him because he didn't know that Izuku's mom knew anyone outside of Japan.

As he opened up the envelope and skimmed through the letter his expression darkened and his fist clenched so hard that he crumpled up the paper and almost burned it to a crisp due to his Quirk.

"How _dare _you…." Katsuki spat venomously.

_He _chose _now _to _finally _send her a letter?

"You _useless_ old man," Katsuki had half a mind to burn the letter into a crisp, but he knew that it wouldn't be fair of him to do so.

Instead, he read the letter aloud to Inko, doing his best to hold back his contempt.

"_Dear, Inko, _

_I am sorry that I have been unable to send you the support that you need in these recent months. My bank account had been hacked into and my funds were frozen. I was unable to call or contact you by cell phone due to my service shutting off since I was unable to pay, and I was forced to lounge in my boss's house until I was finally able to get back on track. I think someone is targeting me, and I fear that you may read this letter when it is far too late for me. Whatever you do, get help as soon as you can. I pray that this letter isn't intercepted. _

_I will be home soon._

_Love you, always. _

_\- Hizashi Midoriya" _

Katsuki's face was colored with shock. Moments ago he had doubted Izuku's dad and wrote him off as a dead beat since he was never around, but it seemed that his inability to return home must have happened by design.

In which case, this could possibly mean that not only is Izuku's mother's life in danger, but his father's life as well. For whatever reason, their entire family had become a target.

But, who could he tell?

His instructor?

No, this was an urgent matter. He had to contact the Chief Of Police as soon as possible. Thankfully, Officer Tsuragamae had given him his contact information after the Stain incident.

Katsuki took a moment to step outside of the room and into a hallway where there weren't any staff members or patients roaming around. He attempted to call Tsuragamae's personal cell phone, but he didn't pick up.

Instead, he was met by a voicemail.

"_I am at a meeting right now, please leave your message after the beep." _

BEEP!

"Call me back as soon as you can, it's an emergency," Katsuki said.

He gritted his teeth and placed his cell phone back inside of his pocket, but when he turned around to walk back towards Inko's room he was cut off by a man wearing a black shirt with golden trim around the collar and sleeves with a tan pair of baggy pants wearing dark shades.

However, his most striking feature were his large red wings that stuck out of his back like a bird.

Or better yet, like a hawk.

"Come with me."

* * *

**Another update. This took longer than expected because I was going to add what would be the conclusion into this chapter, but I opted to split it up. **

**The next chapter will be the final chapter for the arc, and details of the next arc will be revealed then. It will be the second to last arc of the entire story. **

** Kain541204 - I appreciate you and your thorough review. I wish I could give you a proper response but if I did then I'll spoil what's to come. Just know that you're on the nose with your criticisms. **

** TheOnlyKing - I wish I could address your point as well, but if I did then I'd spoil the story, so I can't. **

** JigglyJoe - It was more like a Cadet Academy, not a full on Police Academy. The equivalent of U.A., but for teenager who aspire to be Police Officers instead of Pro Heroes. **

**As far as I'm going, I'm okay. Back home looking after my pregnant fiance. She's about to enter her third trimester and it's been a bit of a challenge to look after her every want and need with her aches and pains and appointments. Hard to even find the time to sit down and write, which was always my escape so to speak. Even still I'll continue to find a way. **

**Don't have much else to say. Please comment and review. It really keeps me going. **


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